With both cars over 6-tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen’s pole-securing lap, McLaren will be disappointed with their qualifying performance in Jeddah. Looking at this gap to Verstappen, Lando Norris, who will start from P6, jokingly revealed a plan to topple Verstappen.
Norris decided to bring in a bit of laughter after the qualifying session in Saudi Arabia. Not only is he starting further from where he would have liked, but his teammate Oscar Piastri outperformed him and will start from fifth. In the media pen, Norris suggested jumping the start, as quoted on X. He feels it is the ideal solution to defeat Verstappen, who seems invincible at the moment.
Norris also mentioned that the McLaren cars are so slow on the straight that it is impossible to make overtakes as the race progresses. This comes as a huge disappointment for the iconic British outfit. Last season, they started slow but developed the MCL60 to have a phenomenal straight-line by the time the season ended.
This edged them to get closer to Red Bull. In the last few races of the campaign, they did give Max Verstappen and Co. a run for their money. By the Abu Dhabi GP season finale, the Woking-based team was arguably the second-fastest car on the grid.
This year, it seems that the team has failed to retain those aerodynamic characteristics and tracks like Bahrain and Jeddah, with their long straights, expose this flaw in their design.
All to play for as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Norris starts the Saudi Arabian GP from P6, behind teammate Piastri in P5. This is the second consecutive time in Jeddah, that Norris got outqualified by his teammate.
That being said, Piastri’s qualifying efforts were not as smooth as one would guess. He clipped the wall on one occasion, on the way to securing his fastest lap of the evening. His reaction in the aftermath of his close call shows that he extracted the very maximum from the car.
In the media pen, Piastri said (as quoted on X), “I think that’s about the most we could’ve done today.”
The Saudi Arabian GP in Jeddah almost always treats fans with an eventful race. The Safety Car coming out here is not uncommon. Additionally, there are places drivers can make overtake, provided they have less drag in their car. Norris and Piastri will both be looking to make as many places up as possible. If their race-pace turns out to be good, a podium could be well within reach.
