Tag: McLaren Racing

Piastri leading for the first time in F1 is ‘a day I won’t forget’

Oscar Piastri says leading his first laps in Formula 1 during the Belgian Grand Prix’s sprint on Saturday is an unforgettable experience. Max Verstappen started from pole position but heavy rain delayed the start and saw four additional formation …

Oscar Piastri says leading his first laps in Formula 1 during the Belgian Grand Prix’s sprint on Saturday is an unforgettable experience.

Max Verstappen started from pole position but heavy rain delayed the start and saw four additional formation laps completed behind the safety car to clear standing water and improve visibility. By the time the race started, Verstappen stayed out but Piastri immediately stopped for intermediates and took the lead for the next few laps as he undercut the Red Bull, but Verstappen eased past after another safety car period to win, with Piastri comfortably finishing second.

“Very, very happy. We tried our best,” Piastri said. “We boxed when the safety car came in, led a few laps. I tried my best but we were no match for Max. Nice to be up there in P2. I think, apart from Max, our pace was really strong, so full credit to the team again.

“The last three weekends we’ve had, it’s been pretty special, compared to where we have been, so I can’t thank them enough for the car. We’ve still got a little bit of work to do — clearly — to get right to the top, but it’s a lot nicer to be up there. To lead my first laps was a day I won’t forget.”

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Piastri had to lead the field to a restart and admits he was aware of the threat Verstappen would instantly pose but was surprised to be overtaken so quickly.

“You’re always focusing on trying to just do the best laps you can. I mean, when you’ve got Max and his car behind you, it doesn’t put your nerves at ease, put it that way. I knew it was going to be difficult to hold him behind, of course.

“I probably wasn’t expecting him to catch me literally at the top of Eau Rouge after the safety car restart, but such is our straight line speed. Yeah, it was cool. I was just focusing on trying to do the best job I could, knowing that it was probably going to be a ‘when’ Max came past, rather than an ‘if.’ But yeah, I tried my best and I think second was all we all had.

“I’ve done quite a few safety car restarts before, so it’s nothing new. But of course, you just try and do the best job you can in tricky conditions, with quite low tire temps at that point. So I tried the best that I could. I think I went a bit wide at Turn 1, which didn’t help things, but I don’t think it really made much difference. No, it was nice to be able to control a safety car restart again and hopefully there’s a few more opportunities in the future.”

McLaren advancing cautiously despite second straight podium

McLaren boss Andrea Stella is buoyed by McLaren’s second consecutive podium finish but isn’t willing to call his team a permanent front-running fixture without a bigger sample size of circuits. The team is enjoying a powerful resurgence from the …

McLaren boss Andrea Stella is buoyed by McLaren’s second consecutive podium finish but isn’t willing to call his team a permanent front-running fixture without a bigger sample size of circuits.

The team is enjoying a powerful resurgence from the midfield into the leading pack thanks to a major three-part upgrade package, the first phase of which was brought to the car at the Austrian Grand Prix at the start of the month.

Lando Norris qualified and finished fourth at the Red Bull Ring before leading teammate Oscar Piastri to a 2-3 qualification and 2-4 finish at the British Grand Prix on the following weekend.

The team remained cautious about the significance of the results at circuits it has traditionally performed strongly at, given their lack of slow-speed corners — McLaren’s weakness.

The Hungaroring was thought to be a much sterner test, and Lando Norris categorically ruled out another podium finish upon arriving in Budapest. McLaren locked out the second row, though, and Norris finished second again — in doing so, mounting an increasingly convincing argument that the MCL60 can be a regular frontrunner.

“Genuinely, I don’t think we expected to be here this weekend, especially in P2,” Norris said. “A positive surprise again to be where we are. We’re very happy because it’s my first time having consecutive podiums. To be P2 is a fantastic result in a car that probably shouldn’t be P2.

“It’s another podium in a place we probably weren’t expecting a podium, which probably makes it even more special.”

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Team principal Stella echoes Norris’s comments, saying he was pleased for further confirmation of the car’s progress.

“We certainly come out of this event encouraged that we have made progress in medium speed,” he said. “That’s what we certainly see from comparison with our competition.

“The other important confirmation is that we made progress in terms of tire degradation, and we see that having improved the car actually kind of brings improvement to how you use tires at the same time.

“It is a kind of common knowledge — we know that having good load helps tires — but it was good to confirm it once again. This makes us certainly a bit more optimistic for the future than we were after Silverstone.”

Part of McLaren’s stronger-than-expected Hungary result it that the Hungaroring has been moved from the slow-speed column of circuits into the medium-speed bracket owing to natural increases in downforce under the regulations as well as a relatively new high-grip track surface.

Stella said that shielded some of the MCL60’s weaknesses, which were evident in only the slowest parts of the track.

“We also see that we do lose time in the three low-speed corners — in (Turn 1), in the chicane and in (Turn 12) — confirming there is still work to do in low speed,” he said.

That telemetry meant he remains cautious about the upcoming grand prix in Belgium despite, on paper, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps being a very high speed track.

“Even if Spa is normally mentioned as one of the higher speed tracks, in reality the highest speed corner, which is (Turn 10), is flat in qualifying,” he said.

“There’s a lot of lap time in (Turn 1), which is 80kph, in (Turn 8), which is 100kph, and in the last chicane, which is 90kph.

“I don’t want to repeat myself, but I go with some care, because in these three corners, at the moment, we see that we lose time. That’s where we are.”

McLaren seeks right of review into Norris penalty in Canada

McLaren has lodged a petition for its right of review into the penalty given to Lando Norris during the Canadian Grand Prix. Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for “unsportsmanlike behavior” in Montreal having been deemed by the stewards …

McLaren has lodged a petition for its right of review into the penalty given to Lando Norris during the Canadian Grand Prix.

Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for “unsportsmanlike behavior” in Montreal having been deemed by the stewards to have slowed down excessively behind the safety car in order to create a gap to teammate Oscar Piastri in front before pitting. Norris was confused by the penalty — that dropped him from ninth in the race to 13th in the results — and McLaren is now seeking a review.

In order to be granted that review, the team must convince the FIA that it has a significant and relevant new element that was not available to the stewards at the time the decision was made.

“We are very supportive of the FIA and the stewards, and we trust them while they carry out what is a difficult job,” a McLaren statement read. “We appreciate stewards need to make decisions in a short timeframe, analyzing complex scenarios and often with partial information and multiple elements to consider.

“In Canada, we were surprised by the penalty and uncertain as to the rationale behind the decision. We spoke to the stewards immediately after the race to help understand the reasoning for the penalty.

“The FIA’s regulatory framework has tools and processes which allow them and the sport to deal with the operational complexity of Formula 1, especially for decisions which need to be made during the race. The “right of review” is one of those processes which showcases the strength of the institution in allowing decisions to be reviewed, should that be in the best interest of the sport and this is something McLaren fully embraces and supports.

“Given this provision, the team took the initial explanation onboard and decided to review the case in a calm and considered manner, performing comprehensive due diligence, which included looking at the precedents. After this careful and extensive review, we believe enough evidence exists to…submit a “right to review” to the FIA, which we have done…

“We will now continue to work with the FIA closely, in the same constructive and collaborative manner in which we normally do, and will accept the outcome of their deliberations and decision.”