Lando Norris Kicks Himself After Oscar Piastri’s Tough Outing Deprives His McLaren Teammate of a Strong Start in Canada

Despite the continued struggle of the MCL60, on intermediate tires, the McLaren challenger came alive in the cold and damp conditions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. However, despite the favorable conditions, there is a lot of disappointment in the McLaren garage. The McLaren men, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri could not capitalize on the favorable conditions. Norris will start the race in 7th and Piastri just behind him. Although, according to the Brit, he could’ve been in a much better starting position in the race if it wasn’t for Piastri’s tough outing.

Piastri’s luck ran out in the last part of the qualifying session as he slid and put his car in the barriers. His crash forced a red flag which eventually turned out to be the last incident of Q3. Following the crash, the rain came & locked the lap times while Norris could only do one lap in Q3 which put him 7th fastest. According to him, there was potential for a lot more.

When suggested there wasn’t a lot more he could’ve done in Q3, Norris communicated his discontent. According to the Formula 1 website, he said, “No, there’s a lot more I could’ve done. I could’ve done a good lap. That would’ve helped. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have been P2, I guess today after the first lap. I think only Max [Verstappen] and one other person got two laps in the end. But I just didn’t do a good enough first lap and if  the red flag was 30 seconds later, I would’ve been P2.”

However, he accepted his fate and said, “Yeah, should’ve, could’ve, would’ve. I just didn’t do a good enough job at the end of the day in Q3.”

Read More: After Gelling Up With Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri Makes a Satisfying Revelation 

The McLaren men and their cars showed great promise throughout the qualifying but such is the fickle nature of F1. The fans often try to cheer the McLaren men up but only a positive race result can boost their morale.

In the long run, however, they can’t rely on cold tracks for performance. In the long run, they need to address all the lingering and fundamental issues at hand, which the team principal detailed in the past.

McLaren TP Highlights the Issues to be resolved to give Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri a fighting chance

Most would assume, the McLaren car does not have enough punch in its power unit to compete with the competition. However, that is not the case. The team is battling on various fronts and according to Andrea Stella, the power unit is the least of their problems.

Stella stated, “At the moment, if we look at our limitations, they have nothing to do with the power unit. I think they are much more fundamental. That’s where I would like to keep the focus. And even when I think about aiming to improve from an aerodynamic point of view, or even to improve from a tire point of view, I’ve seen the role of the power unit is even in terms of layout, and construction and so on, is really small.”

Now, the question remains if McLaren will be able to resolve these issues before their star man’s contract runs out. There has already been plenty of speculation about Norris’s future. Let’s hope these lingering issues don’t force an ugly breakup.

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