Andrea Stella reacts to missed opportunity for McLaren in China: “We didn’t capitalize”. Andrea Stella reflects on a wasted opportunity for McLaren’s two cars in China.

McLaren in second and third rows
The biggest disappointment of the Shanghai Sprint Qualifying is arguably McLaren. The papaya team seemed capable of dominating this track without much difficulty, yet—at least for now—Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are struggling. The Briton made several mistakes in SQ3, finishing only sixth. Piastri did slightly better, securing third place, but he was still beaten by Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, who made the difference in terms of driving performance.

The Sprint format gives Woking’s two cars a good chance to recover, and they remain the favorites for Sunday’s Grand Prix. However, they will need to better exploit the strengths of a car that—judging from the onboard footage—still appears somewhat tricky to handle. Speaking at the end of the day, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged that the team hadn’t done a perfect job.

A scolding for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris
“Our first day here in China ends with a somewhat disappointing result,” admitted the Italian manager. “Even though we managed to work well during free practice, completing many important elements in preparation for the Sprint weekend.”

Stella then appeared to issue a slight reprimand to his drivers for their underwhelming performance in the final part of qualifying: “We struggled to put together perfect laps in SQ3 and therefore failed to capitalize on the car’s good pace. This is a reminder of how competitive the grid is—failing to fully exploit performance can cost us several positions. Now we have the opportunity to use the available data to maximize the car’s pace and ensure we are prepared for tomorrow’s Sprint,” the former Ferrari race engineer concluded.