Lusail International Circuit, Sunday, 8 October

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after the Qatar Grand Prix.

As it happened

• A collision at Turn 1 between Russell and Hamilton allows Oscar, who had started well, to slip through the inside and into P2. Lando follows suit on the inside line, gaining four positions to P6.
• Ocon and Alonso pit, elevating Lando up to P4.
• Oscar is the first McLaren to pit, staying on the Medium tyre and emerging back on track in P13.
• Lando pits one lap later, coming out in P13 while Oscar moves up to P9.
• Oscar overtakes Stroll before making quick work of Bottas, climbing back up to P4 with other cars pitting.
• Following a flurry of pit action, Oscar is back into P2 and Lando is P6 after an easy overtake to get past Leclerc.
• Lando gets past Stroll and Bottas pits promoting Lando to P4.
• Oscar and Lando head in for their second pit-stops, returning to the track in P5 and P7, respectively.
• A double overtake for McLaren as Oscar gets past Albon while Lando beats Zhou.
• Perez, Albon and Russell all pit giving Oscar P2 and Lando P3. 
• A third and final pit-stop for both drivers and a switch to Hard tyres. They stay ahead of the crowd in P3 and P4 with just Verstappen and Russell ahead.
• Russell pits pushing Oscar and Lando back up to P2 and P3.
• Pushing on fresh tyres to the end, Oscar and Lando come home for a McLaren double podium.

Started	6th
Finished	2nd
Fastest lap	1m24.921s on lap 48 (+0.602, 3rd)
Pit-stops	3, lap 12 [Medium/Medium] (3.0s), lap 25 [Medium/Medium] (2.0s) and lap 43 [Medium/Hard] (2.0s)

“Very, very happy. Turn 1 was nice. That was in the game-plan before the race. We had a really impressive pace. It was definitely the hardest race I’ve had in my life. It was hot and basically flat-out the entire time. It was 57 qualifying laps, which I definitely feel that I’ve done. A really good race.

“My thanks go to the team for providing Lando and myself with a car that means we can fight at the front more consistently. There were some great strategy calls today, brilliant pit-stops and despite the challenging conditions, we were able to put it all together on the day. A great day.”

Started	10th
Finished	3rd
Fastest lap	1m24.842s on lap 47 (+0.532, 2nd)
Pit-stops	3, lap 13 [Medium/Medium] (2.4s), lap 27 [Medium/Medium] (1.8s) and lap 44 [Medium/Hard] (2.0s)

“It was just a mega race from start to finish. We had a good opening lap. I learned from my mistake yesterday of going wide, I said I’d go tight, and I did, and it worked out. So, a good start, we had good pace throughout the whole thing. Probably the best pace out there today, so I’m happy. Stressful, hot, sweaty, little bit tired but a great job for the team. Three in a row now. A 1.8 second pit-stop as well!

“I think the three-stop made it a lot harder physically. You could push a lot more. Even the last stint, you could pretty much push flat-out. This was one of the hardest races I’ve done, but it’s a nice challenge and congrats to Oscar. Thank you to the team for their incredible work to put us in this position.”

“A fantastic day for the team as we achieve our 500th podium in Formula 1. Both Lando and Oscar drove great races in difficult conditions to finish P2 and P3 to add to the success in the Sprint yesterday. A double podium rewards the team both trackside and at the factory for their brilliant work and my thanks go to them for their continued commitment and dedication to McLaren.

“The tyre limitations provided an interesting challenge for the team as we had to adapt our strategy and prepare the team for six stops. However, they managed very well and the brilliant work by the pit-stop crew saw the fastest stop of 1.8 seconds.

“We now turn our focus to a busy triple-header and continue to close the gap to our competitors. We must remain with our feet on the ground, however for now, we will celebrate the success of a very strong weekend.”