2025 United States Grand Prix – McLAREN Sprint and GP Qualifying report “My gratitude goes to all the mechanics"

Circiut of the Americas, Saturday, 18 October

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella, after Sprint and GP Qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.

Lando quote banner
Started 2nd  
Finished DNF  
Q1 1m33.843s (Soft) 12th
Q2 1m32.876s (Soft) 3rd
Q3 1m32.801s (Soft) 2nd

“A difficult day, having missed running in the Sprint this morning, Quali was definitely slightly harder than yesterday. The conditions changed, which didn't help, but I also didn't put my best lap in on Q3, so to be P2 isn't too bad. The team in the garage did a great job getting the car back together, so thank you to them. We don't have a lot of long-run data to work on, but our race pace has often been better than our Quali pace, so I'm optimistic but realistic about our chances for tomorrow.” 

Oscar quote banner
Started 3rd  
Finished DNF  
Q1 1m33.746s (Soft) 11th
Q2 1m33.228s (Soft) 8th
Q3 1m33.084s (Soft) 6th

“A tricky day for us today. Obviously not the result we wanted in the Sprint. It’s shame to have not been able to finish. Massive thanks to the team for the big effort to get our cars back together.

“Quali was a tougher one compared to Sprint Quali. I just didn’t really feel particularly comfortable in the car, so wasn’t able to put it all together. But it’s a long race tomorrow, and anything can happen, so we’ll make up some places and do what we can.”

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Austin Collection

Andrea Stella

“A frustrating day on track with a disappointing Sprint where our two drivers were out on Lap 1 at Turn 1. This took away valuable track time for Lando and Oscar, resulting in them both needing to get straight into the rhythm of Qualifying.

“The team did an incredible job turning both cars around ahead of Qualifying given the large volume of parts that required replacing. My gratitude goes to all the mechanics and operational team members at McLaren who showed their resilience in overcoming this difficult challenge.

“While we aren’t on Pole, the entire team will remain focused as we look forward to tomorrow’s Grand Prix, in which we aim for a strong finish with both cars. We will try to take advantage and exploit the strengths in our car, especially with the hot conditions alongside the added factor of tyre degradation.”