McLaren happy with setup changes after tricky practice in Sao Paulo
Following a difficult practice session on Friday, McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sounded a positive note after locking out the front row for today's Sao Paulo F1 Sprint.
McLaren arrived in Sao Paulo with confidence, expecting the Interlagos track to suit their car and so it proved. However, the sole one-hour practice did not go smoothly for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who were both struggling to get a feel on the resurfaced track.
Things changed then dramatically for sprint qualifying, with the MCL38 setting the benchmark in all sessions. It looked like Norris was on course to secure pole, but Piastri managed to pull a special lap out of the bag, nailing his final run.
The Australian commented: “I’m really happy to be starting on Pole tomorrow, and a great result for the team to be starting 1-2. It was a tricker session as in SQ3 my first lap didn’t feel amazing, but I knew there were a couple of places I could improve, and I was able to put it all together for the final run.
“I suspect it’s going to be a very different kind of Sprint to last year because of the resurfacing. We’ll have to see what the weather does, but I’m starting from the best seat in the house, so let’s see what we can so.”
His team-mate Lando Norris dominated the opening stages of sprint qualifying, but he was unable to find the improvement in the dying stages of the short session which meant that he will line up behind his Australian team-mate in today's sprint.
“A good session for us as a team to start the weekend in Brazil. We were struggling to get a feel of the car in practice, so the improvements made in today’s Sprint Qualifying are pleasing.
"The pace is easily there and to lock out the front row is a great result. We’ll work hard to maintain maximum points tomorrow.”
Reflecting on the impressive one-two finish, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella warned that things could quickly change on Saturday and Sunday, with rain forecast for the remainder of the weekend.
“A strong performance for both Lando and Oscar in the Sprint Qualifying session. The car seems to be performing well and Lando and Oscar put together clean laps. At the same time, we need to remain calm, because the conditions in Sprint Qualifying were very different from those in practice.
"The track was cold and the sky was overcast - we know that our car enjoys these conditions. For the remainder of the weekend, there’s some weather around, so we just have to remain focused, maximise the potential of the car and adapt to the challenges that we will face. As a starting point, this is encouraging, and we hope that we can earn some good points tomorrow," concluded the Italian.
