Andrea Stella announced that Oscar Piastri will help Lando Norris in the championship challenge at the Azerbaijan GP. However, the qualifying turned the situation on its head with the Briton out in Q1. As the papaya army and the team blamed FIA for the yellow flags, Peter Windsor labeled the Q1 as mismanagement by McLaren.
Norris had one of the quicker cars and could have reached at least Q3. Unfortunately, during his final run in Q1, the British driver encountered a yellow flag in the final sector on the track. As a result, Norris didn’t improve on his banker lap and was eliminated. Regardless, Windsor believes that it was McLaren’s fault, and not the FIA behind Norris’ misfortune.
Tale as old as time on a street circuit…
Yellow flags hampered Lando Norris’ final run in Q1 and left the McLaren watching from the sidelines #F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/0uCYjVPhv6
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 14, 2024
In his YouTube video about the Baku qualifying, Windsor stated that the marshals did their job for safety purposes and would have waved the yellow flags to prevent any potential hazard.
“I think it is unfair and not nice of McLaren to criticise the marshals, because this falls under the heading of safety… McLaren puts itself in this situation.”, he said.
Windsor also highlighted the contrasting situation at Ferrari, where they ensured that Charles Leclerc stayed clear of that kerfuffle. He said, “‘Leclerc wasn’t in that situation, because he was in the pit lane. Leclerc was there, because Vasseur had made it clear to the engineers that Leclerc would already set a time in that first run, which was fast enough.”
“He didn’t want Leclerc on the track, when it was busy. McLaren should have done that too.”
The Monegasque driver completed his final laps on the second tires well before all the others came out and caused a jam. Following Ocon’s tire puncture in Q1, there were consistent yellow flags in the final sector of the track. Some suggest that it was a white flag that Norris saw while others believe it was a yellow flag.
While the yellow flags debate will continue, McLaren shouldn’t have waited for the final minutes to send the cars out. The appeal of track evolution is understandable, but safety always comes first at a track like Baku, where incidents are common.
