AUSTIN — Zac Brown was the center of attention at Friday's U.S. Grand Prix. During Friday's FIA press conference, Brawn sat alongside team principals Laurent Mequise of the RB F1 team and Oliver Oakes of Alpine, and almost every question was directed to the McLaren CEO. mediated. reason? The Woking-based team has surged to the top of the F1 Constructors' Championship standings, with Lando Norris closing in on Max Verstappen at the top of the Drivers' Championship standings, with media wondering how the team will settle. asked McLaren bosses for answers. Out of season.
A few hours later, when Brown returned to McLaren's hospitality space after sprint qualifying, it was he who asked the question.
McLaren endured a difficult Friday sprint qualifying session, with Oscar Piastri eliminated in SQ1 after his lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits. As a result, only Norris was left in the fight, and in the end he only had enough laps to finish fourth, although on the official F1 channel he described the lap as “shocking”.
“Not very good, I'm P4. It wasn't a great day, but to be honest I was struggling with my balance and setup all day,” said Norris after qualifying. “In a sense [I’m] I think it could have been much worse, so I'm happy with fourth place, but my lap was shocking. Well, it wasn't a terrible day, it could have been worse, it could have been better, but I accept it. ”
Norris wasn't too optimistic about fighting for the lead in Saturday's F1 sprint race.
“I want to move forward and that's my plan, but I think pace-wise I'm where I should be today, so my plan is to move forward, but I don't know how far I can go. .”
As for Piastri, he could only lament his mistake in the final sector, and his day ended sooner than expected.
“Most of the laps were good,” Piastri said after the session. “I made some mistakes in the last sector and obviously went a little too fast in the penultimate corner and that was the result. It's disappointing, but if there's one good thing about the sprint weekend, it's that That means we have another chance tomorrow.”
Asked about the MCL38, Piastri outlined that he did not believe there was anything wrong with the car, but rather that McLaren's rivals may have taken a step forward.
“It feels okay, but maybe not as strong as the last few races,” Piastri said. “But I don't think it's because we're weak. I think maybe others seem a little stronger.”
Team principal Andrea Stella admitted it had not been “the smoothest day” for McLaren. Comments after the session.
It wasn't a smooth day. Oscar's rap was removed and he was eliminated in SQ1 as a result. In the garage on the land side, we were able to move on to SQ3 comfortably,” Stella said. “He looked like he was on course to set a very competitive lap, but some issues in the final sector pushed him down to 4th place. Still in a good position to score points. But while learning about the updates we've brought to Austin, we've also gathered some good information that will allow us to get a little more out of the car.”
McLaren, along with several other teams, brought some updates to Austin. However, Norris did not mention the upgrade in his comments to the media. “It's not a new package, it's pretty much the same,” said the McLaren driver.
He also seems to have more questions than answers at the moment.
