The 'back to reality' moment McLaren experienced at Spanish GP
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McLaren had their best qualifying of the season in Barcelona as Lando Norris secured a shock third place on the grid, while Piastri also reached Q3 and took 10th. Should Charles Leclerc leave Ferrari?Video of Should Charles Leclerc leave Ferrari?But McLaren’s promising one-lap pace failed to translate into a strong result, with the team ultimately leaving Spain empty-handed. Piastri slipped to 13th at the chequered flag and Norris finished a lowly 17th after first-lap contact with Lewis Hamilton ruined his race. “It was just a long afternoon,” Piastri said. “I just didn’t have the pace to really do anything.“Pretty poor first lap for myself as well, which didn’t help things, but I don’t think we really had the pace to stay in the points anyways.“We’ll have a look at why we struggled so much today compared to yesterday. I think we’ve got some good ideas already. But yeah, disappointing afternoon.”
The Australian added: “I think [qualifying] was a very good performance from the team,” he said. “I think [the race] was probably more back to reality, I would say.“We just need to understand why we struggle on Sundays and when the track’s a bit hotter and stuff like that. We’ll go and have a look.”Related F1 mastermind outlines what makes Verstappen the ‘perfect driver’ How long would it take to copy Red Bull’s F1 floor design?McLaren head into next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix occupying sixth place in the constructors’ championship, 23 points behind fifth-placed Alpine.
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