What was supposed to be an exhilarating weekend for the Papaya Army and hometown hero Zak Brown turned into a disaster after only the first 18 minutes. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were both out of Qualifying and failed to make it to the top 15 in Q1. The Mclaren duo had been looking pretty solid, but that’s when a Ferrari-esque blunder by the strategy department caused the duo to lose out at the big event.

In a qualifying session that saw both the Williams drivers move into Q3, the biggest shock came from the Woking-based outfit’s garage. The track conditions required the drivers to complete an installation lap before their warm-up lap because the temperatures would just not be high enough for optimum pace. However, the Mclaren duo did their hot laps while others were on warm-up laps, leaving them victims to track evolution as they failed to get back out in time with fresher tires.

Oscar Piastri grills Mclaren for a qualifying mistake at the Las Vegas GP despite Lando Norris having hopes up

Speaking on the disaster, Mclaren’s CEO Zak Brown downplayed the incident and shared that they were not expecting such a dismal result. The McLaren boss said, “We thought we’d struggle this weekend, but we didn’t think either car would be out in Q1.” This came as a shock to the drivers because they were not expecting to lose out on a track where it’s crucial to beat Red Bull.

At the start of the year, this would have made no sense to anyone, but Oscar Piastri believes they had the pace to be a serious threat to the Ferraris and Verstappen, who ended up sealing the top 3. He shared, “I don’t think it’s that confusing. I think the pace in the car is quite good. I just think we didn’t use a second set of tyres or something like that. And, at the start of qualifying we were in a normal spot P5 and when others put on a new set of tyres, we did not.”

Had Mclaren played their cards right and put Norris and Piastri on the right strategy, the Papaya duo could have easily upset the Q3 order, and even Logan Sargeant qualified fifth in the stricken Williams. Piastri added, “For me, it doesn’t make sense from going from the top 5 to being out in qualifying. But the pace in the car is not a concern.”

Lando Norris was not as critical of the team’s blunder as Piastri was. The 24-year-old brushed aside the Q1 incident to share, “Should we have put on a new soft? Potentially. It happens, but I look forward to tomorrow.” Even though Norris had a solid shot at continuing McLaren’s hunt of the RB19, he will once again have to fight his way through the field.

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However, the driver’s optimism about the MCL60’s pace around the Vegas Street Circuit was put to the sidelines by Zak Brown’s realistic expectations.

Zak Brown is expecting the Las Vegas GP weekend to only get more ‘dramatic’

While most of the Papaya Army and Oscar Piastri were quick to bring up the lazy strategy choices, the Woking-outfits chief believes their struggles have just started. The American CEO was quoted by PlanetF1, “Not a good start to the weekend. All we can now do is focus on the race tomorrow.” He went on to say that a track like Vegas with slow-speed corners would not suit the MCL60 because its strength lies in the high-speed and medium-speed corners. This becomes a cause of concern with the Vegas GP setup.

Zak Brown concluded, “So our low downforce setup has struggled over the course of the season. It’s not a great time with how close we are in the championship to have both cars out in Q1, but let’s see what happens tomorrow. The race could be a bit dramatic.” The pressure is on McLaren after both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll out-qualified the Papaya Duo. With only 21 separating the Silverstone and Woking teams, Zak Brown’s side cannot afford to make such mistakes.

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Various team principals stated earlier that they were not looking forward to the set-up choices for the Vegas GP because the track is experiencing extremely low temperatures and with the new asphalt, it could be the perfect recipe for disaster!