Andrea Stella reveals what went wrong for McLaren in Hungarian GP qualifying

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has confirmed what went wrong for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

After dominating the timing sheets throughout the three practice sessions in Hungary, with Norris going fastest in practice 1 and 2 and Piastri fastest in practice 3, McLaren lost out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in qualifying.

With Piastri set to start from pole position, Piastri will line up beside him in P2 and Norris behind in P3. Stella revealed that the wind changes during qualifying impacted the team’s performance while speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the session.

“Well, having seen the performance of the car in practice and also in Q1 and Q2, we were certainly looking forward to trying to lockout the first row on the grid, but today the conditions were very weird, very dependent on the wind. 

“There was a change of conditions from Q2 to Q3, and I have to say we paid a bit of a price. I think our drivers might have been also a bit cautious because you never knew what kind of grip you find for each corner, so we went four tenths slower than Q2, while Leclerc went faster and he deserved the pole position.
 
“Well done to Leclerc and well done to Ferrari.”

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Explaining why the wind changes made such a big difference to the Woking outfit, Stella added: “Well, Formula 1 cars are aerodynamic machines, and having the headwind, having the tailwind or the sidewind, it makes so much of an effect in terms of grip that you experience in a corner.

“And for the drivers, this is also not visible, so you somehow, while we give the drivers some references as to the wind direction in days like today, especially in Q3, it was very gusty and very variable, so it depends a little bit on the amount of risks that you want to take, and then you have to make some adaptations based on how the wind is behaving. 

“But like I say, still a very good position, well done to Ferrari, and we have a bit more work to do tomorrow than we might have anticipated, but we look forward to a good race.”

Photos from Hungarian GP – Practice & Qualifying