McLaren endured a deeply disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang, failing to capitalise on a chaotic Formula 1 race filled with opportunities created by the early rain. Oscar Piastri eventually finished sixth and reigning world champion Lando Norris ninth, while the team’s strategy, overtaking difficulties and driver errors combined to produce another costly result.
The two MCL40s finished behind race winner Max Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes and both Ferraris, the only other leading team to start the race on slick tyres. Malaysia had been expected to offer McLaren the chance to secure a strong result, but a long sequence of variables — including several within the team’s control — instead produced another difficult Sunday reminiscent of Baku.
McLaren struggles to execute when it matters at Sepang
The Sepang weekend bore several similarities to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. McLaren’s car and drivers had performed well before Sunday, with convincing pace during free practice, yet everything unravelled once the race began.
As at Baku, the MCL40 failed to come alive when the decisive moment arrived. Despite the completely different weather conditions, the overall result was again disappointing. Lando Norris’s mistake at Turn 1 on lap 50, which sent him into the gravel, was also strikingly similar to his Baku error at the same corner, when he ran into trouble under braking following a lock-up.
McLaren’s initial strategy, like Ferrari’s, did not produce the desired outcome. The circuit appeared to be evolving, but starting on slick tyres proved completely wrong, particularly with the decision to use the medium compound.
However, the tyre decision was not McLaren’s only problem. Even midway through the race, when the field was effectively competing on equal tyre compounds, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris struggled to overtake midfield cars such as Racing Bulls and Haas.
Lewis Hamilton, by contrast, was able to pass the cars ahead with relative ease once he had recovered the ground lost during the opening laps. For McLaren, the conclusion was therefore particularly frustrating, with Lando Norris’s late error adding another problem to an already disappointing afternoon.
Lando Norris admits McLaren did not do a good enough job
Lando Norris made no attempt to disguise his frustration during McLaren’s short post-race debrief on the team’s official channels, accepting responsibility for his own mistakes while also acknowledging that the overall execution had fallen below the required standard.
“I’m sorry, we didn’t do a good job today, we made the wrong decisions with the tyres at the start and a couple of mistakes along the way. Simply, an insufficient performance from myself and from the whole team, but these things happen in racing and we will learn.”
Despite the frustration at Sepang, Lando Norris immediately sounded more enthusiastic when looking ahead to the next Grand Prix in Singapore.
“We’re going back to a track I enjoy next week [referring to Singapore]. Review, learn and improve: that’s the objective for the next race weekend.”
Andrea Stella faces work to do as Red Bull closes on McLaren
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella now has significant work ahead of him during the closing races of the season. Since the team’s victory in Hungary, little has gone according to plan for one reason or another. Expectations have remained high, but execution has repeatedly fallen short.
The result is also important in the constructors’ championship. Red Bull continues to close on McLaren in the fight for third place, while Ferrari has slightly extended its advantage ahead.
With Max Verstappen winning at Sepang and McLaren managing only sixth and ninth, the Woking team can no longer afford to focus solely on those ahead. It must increasingly pay attention to the threat developing behind.
The immediate opportunity to respond comes in Singapore, the next event on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar. After another weekend in which promising pace failed to translate into the expected race result, McLaren’s priority is clear: understand the mistakes made at Sepang, improve its execution and ensure that another opportunity does not slip away.
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