Zak Brown feels guilty after Qatar: "I feel terrible for Oscar and Lando"

In Qatar, McLaren swam against the current… and drowned. At the Qatar Grand Prix, the Papayas missed a potentially decisive turning point in the world championship. F1The Woking team is thus continuing its run of setbacks, a week after the double disqualification imposed during the Las Vegas Grand Prix for non-compliant flooring.

On the seventh lap of the Qatar Grand Prix, Nico Hulkenberg ventured outside theAlpine de Pierre Gasly in the first corner and missed his maneuver. His right rear tire destroyed, the German was forced to abandon the race, thus bringing out the safety car.

While almost the entire field rushed towards the pits, Zak Brown's men followed a contrarian strategy, leaving Oscar piastri et Lando Norris on track. “ We made the wrong decision, admits the CEO of McLaren Racing. I feel terrible for Oscar and Lando. Oscar was absolutely flawless all weekend, so we let them down. You win and you lose as a team, but this is clearly not a great moment. Our decision regarding the safety car period on that lap was obviously incorrect. We'll go back over it, analyze it. However, there's nothing we can do about it now.

Andrea Stella takes full responsibility for this strategic error. We are disappointed because we are losing points excessively in the last two events. Our drivers are doing a very good job and if something is wrong, it's the team that needs to raise its level. the team manager insists. We must ensure that we give our drivers the opportunity to capitalize on their excellent performance. »

Fairness at any price

McLaren refuses the double pit stop – adopted by several teams – and also refrains from splitting strategies, for fear of disadvantaging one of its drivers in a tight championship, in the name of fairness proclaimed throughout the season, although difficult to justify at this stage of the championship. We didn't want to change what we had decided before the race. explains Zak Brown. I think it's always dangerous to question oneself in hindsight. "Result: Oscar Piastri was denied victory at Losail while Lando Norris had to settle for fourth place.

The Briton still leads the championship, but now only has a 12-point lead over Max Verstappen – main beneficiary of McLaren’s error – and 16 on his teammate Oscar Piastri. “We are top of the championship, but Oscar is behind, we have left points on the table, so we will simply do our best in Abu Dhabi.” says Zak Brown. We were very strong there last year. »

The Papays have only one round left to try and win a Drivers' title for the first time since 2008 (Lewis Hamilton). With all the cards in hand, it's now a matter of aligning everything. “We have a fast car, we have two excellent drivers, and we need to use everything to ensure we execute a perfect race weekend,” declares Andrea Stella. We have all the ingredients for success; everything is still in our hands, but it requires doing a better job than in the last two races. Will McLaren manage to achieve the perfect weekend to allow a man dressed in papaya to lift the trophy at Yas Marina? Find out at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 7th.

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