McLaren Boss Reveals Why Team Fell Short in Miami Grand Prix Qualifying

McLaren arrived in Miami with what Andrea Stella had described pre-weekend as an “entirely new ” car : a substantial aerodynamic overhaul delivered across the five-week gap in the calendar. The Sprint result backed it up as Lando Norris won the Saturday race, finishing ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri . Then Saturday’s Grand Prix qualifying came along and reshuffled the order in ways Stella couldn’t fully explain away.

Verstappen secured his third pole of the year, just 0. 065 seconds clear of Norris in second, while Kimi Antonelli put his Mercedes third on the grid to outpace Piastri. McLaren had the pace on paper.

Turning it into a clean lap when it mattered most was the problem. Wind and Power Unit Consistency Stella’s explanation to Sky Sports F1 covers a few overlapping factors rather than a single issue. “ After Sprint Qualifying we said that actually multiple cars could have been in pole position,” he said.

“Mercedes struggled with deployment, Leclerc made a couple of mistakes. ” For Grand Prix qualifying, the conditions changed and this negatively affected the papaya team. “The wind was very different,” the team boss continued.