Bahrain International Circuit, Friday, 1 March

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal Andrea Stella, after qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

“The car felt great all through qualifying and there’s a lot of potential. I didn’t get the best lap in at the end, but it’s a long race and there are plenty of overtaking opportunities. We’ll see what we can do to go forwards.” 

“P8. A significant improvement on last year. I did struggle with the balance all session and felt a fair way off compared to yesterday. It came together a bit more on the last lap in Q3, but it was a bit tricky. However, going into tomorrow, I think we can be in the mix. The grid is quite tight and there isn’t much in it, so it won’t be easy, but we’ll see what we can do.” 

“Overall, we can be quite pleased with the performance of the car. We are the most improved team on the grid compared to this time last year and we were in the mix in qualifying for the top positions on the grid. At the same time, there’s a little bit of a bitter taste that we didn’t fully capitalise on the pace in the car. Lando, in Q3, had issues in Turn One on both attempts, and felt he could be starting higher, but he looked very strong in Sectors Two and Three, which is encouraging for the race. Oscar did a very good job of steadily finding pace through the sessions. After Q1, he felt the car was a little unpredictable, but he and his engineers did well to stay calm, make the right adjustments and, ultimately, deliver a strong result. We have a solid base from which to score good points, and we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”