Papaya on top
McLaren continues to perform at the top. Despite some uncertainties in qualifying and the masterpieces attempted by Max Verstappen, the papaya team has won four out of five races this season. The last three victories have all been signed by Oscar Piastri, who also triumphed in Saudi Arabia, taking the lead in the championship for the first time in his career. Speaking after the race, Andrea Stella commented on the Australian’s performance, as well as Lando Norris’, who, after yesterday’s qualifying mistake, was still able to recover from 10th to 4th place today.
“I believe Oscar won the race at the start,” Stella said to Sky Sports F1 microphones. “He was slightly ahead at the apex of Turn 1 [compared to Verstappen] and deserved to take the lead. Once in clean air, he managed everything well. Great race by Oscar and great race by Lando,” the Italian team principal emphasized. “His strategy was to start on hard tires to take advantage of the clean air afterward. For him, these are important points. As he said himself during the cool-down lap, he just needs to do a bit better on Saturday and everything will be fine.”
Lando Norris’ uncertainties
However, Andrea Stella then analyzed a detail from the race where Lando Norris, once again, lacked focus. During the first stint, the Brit struggled for several laps to pass Lewis Hamilton, who was visibly slower, managing the point of overtaking poorly and giving the Ferrari driver the opportunity to use DRS on the main straight, allowing him to get back ahead.
“Did he lose the podium because of that episode? Yes, I think you’re right,” the McLaren boss replied to the interviewer. “When races are this close and decided by a handful of seconds, losing that time with Lewis was a problem. Obviously, Lewis knows very well how to race, and for Lando, it took a couple of attempts to realize he had to pass Lewis in Turn 1.”
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