The struggles continue for McLaren in Bahrain

The nightmare continues at McLaren. Like the winter tests, the British team is far from the mark in Bahrain. During qualifying, neither of the two Woking cars was able to slip into Q3. A disappointing result for a team ranked 5th in the last constructor's championship. For his first qualifying session in F1, Oscar Pistari failed to pass the Q1 mark with the 18th time. Often impressive on Saturdays, Lando Norris could only limit the damage with the 11th time in Q2. 

The Briton's qualification is perhaps the only glimmer of hope for McLaren. “We know we have some performance to find, and we always said that would be the case with this car setup, but I have to say we were very, very close today, underlined James Key, technical director of the English team. The grid has really closed around us and everything is at stake for tomorrow. With good long-term pace we can do a good job with both cars and aim for the points tomorrow. »

Norris has « made the most of it » of his McLaren

As for the pilots, it's all grimace. Lando Norris, accustomed to Q3 in 2022, admitted to being beaten and powerless against his opponents. “11th for the first qualifier of the year, I would say I'm reasonably happy with that. I think we got the most out of the car, confided the 23-year-old pilot. There was maybe a tenth left, but I needed two tenths to make up places. It was a tough qualifying, it was very close between all the middle cars and even the front cars, to be honest. It was a little better than I thought at the start of the session, so we'll take it. »

Oscar piastri, he admits that he is still in a learning phase. However, he blames the red flag caused by Charles Leclerc in Q1, which disrupted his preparation. “Obviously, that’s not what we were looking for, declared the Australian rookie. The red flag compromised us a bit and I just couldn't manage to improve on the second set of tires. That said, it was my first qualifying in F1 and the season is long. We'll do our homework and see what we can do. Tomorrow is another day. » 

In 2022, McLaren had a disastrous opening round at the Sakhir circuit, with no points scored at the time. Will Zak Brown’s team be able to do better in 2023? Response this afternoon during the Bahrain Grand Prix, to be followed from 16 p.m. in live text on AUTOhebdo.

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