While Lando Norris was yet to face the media in Jeddah, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella admitted that his driver pushed too hard and crashed during the qualification due to his own actions. However, there is no reason for despair at McLaren. “We have the race pace to win.”
It is clear that Norris can almost certainly forget about victory in Saudi Arabia. “It’s a shame, it happened in a place that is unforgiving,” Stella observed. “Lando pushed too hard, hit the kerbs, and then became a passenger. The speed was there, which looked good. So that offers opportunities for the race.”
According to Stella, Norris will be able to gain many places in the race, while Oscar Piastri can aim for the win. The team boss believes that the Australian can beat Sunday’s polesitter Max Verstappen in the race. That didn’t happen earlier this season in Japan when the Dutchman also started from pole position. “However, we also had a slightly faster car then. You just have to get into a position during the race to take advantage of that. There is certainly no lack of race pace in Jeddah on Sunday, it looked good for us during the free practice sessions in the long runs.”
