Oscar Piastri shines, Lando Norris falters
At the moment, McLaren is the best car on track, a fact ‘inherited’ since the end of 2024. However, both the standings and today’s results do not yet confirm a clear superiority from the Woking team. Lando Norris had a difficult day and collected only one point in the Sprint, while Max Verstappen, who was passed by Oscar Piastri towards the end, took six points.
The Australian then completed a solid Saturday with his first career pole position, while Lando Norris was pushed off the front row by George Russell’s performance, who took second with Mercedes. When the cars line up on the starting grid tomorrow, the standings will read as follows: Max Verstappen is -2 behind Lando Norris in the Driver’s Championship, and Mercedes is -1 behind McLaren in the Constructor’s Championship. An unimaginable situation after the Melbourne Qualifying, but the crazy race in Australia and the Sprint weekend in China have so far ‘masked’ McLaren’s superiority, assuming that true superiority even exists. Tomorrow we’ll know more after the first dry race of 2025, while Andrea Stella enjoys Oscar Piastri’s first pole in F1.
“The team and both drivers worked hard in qualifying to ensure the pace we knew we had in the car, but first of all, I want to congratulate Oscar for his first pole in a Grand Prix. He put together a beautiful lap in Q3 after two solid sessions in Q1 and Q2, giving his best when it mattered most,” said Andrea Stella. “Once again, we witnessed a very high level of competition from the other teams. After Ferrari’s great result this morning, Mercedes was very close in the afternoon. Oscar and Lando have put us in a great position for tomorrow’s race, which will definitely be competitive, and now we’re focused on getting the most out of the car when it’s needed.” – the former Ferrari race engineer concluded.
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