Oscar Piastri and Rand Norris blamed themselves for returning McLaren’s worst qualifying results of the season on the team’s first chance to win the constructors championship.
Piastri crashed without setting time in turn 3 from the third quarter of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finishing 9th on the grid. Shortly afterwards, Norris slapped the exit barrier on 15 turns, and he was able to continue, but the incident delayed him to Paul Getter Max Verstappen, spending enough time leaving him after 1.122 seconds.
McLaren needs to beat Ferrari nine points and prevent Mercedes from surpassing more than 12 points to secure the championship. Even if Charles Leclerc crashed from qualifying in 10th and Lewis Hamilton was eliminated on the 12th, McLaren failed to clinch the title if the finish position reflected the starting grid.
The uncharacteristic fumble means that for the first time this season there will be no McLaren in the front row.
Piastri, who had not qualified for the fourth time this year before this weekend, was blamed for his crash.
“I never blame anything other than myself. That’s what I stick until I see something I don’t say to me,” he said, but he admitted he didn’t know what error he made after the overnight change in his car felt much more comfortable than he had on Friday.
“Today I felt happier with the car and the work I was doing,” he said. “It was a bit difficult to put it all together, and that was the biggest thing, but yesterday it was debate, whereas the possibilities were there.
“In the end, I tried a little harder in Turn 3. I didn’t see anything I actually did differently. I didn’t feel like I was going that different, but a little bit can make a big difference.
The Piastry crash caused the biggest damage to the title rival’s championship lead, leaving Norris wide open to acquire advanced grid slots on the pole or otherwise, but he failed to capitalize, starting two places instead before his sister car. Norris, who scored 31 points after his engine-related retirement in the Netherlands two rounds ago, refused to view this as an opportunity he missed.
“No, because I still did everything I could,” he insisted.
But he also admitted his mistake. In his case, by insisting that he would first leave the pit lane in queue for the final lap, avoiding the yellow or red flag that ultimately did not come to fruition.
“It was a wrong decision in the end,” he admitted. “If someone else went behind me so that the other person turned yellow, you wouldn’t be asking me this question.
“Today I struggled more to not make the best decisions. But it was hindsight and not the wrong thing back then.”
Despite starting the weekend to win the Grand Prix, Norris’ optimism about McLaren’s Sunday recovery was restricted after the team collapsed Friday’s running and declining position.
“I don’t think there’s a pace to beat Max,” he said. “I think he’s just going to be faster. He’s getting faster all weekend. If he can win easily at Monza, he can win easily this weekend.
“I’m not doing high-five runs. I’m not doing a lot of raps this weekend in general. I don’t have many questions that I still need to answer. To find out what Oscars have long-term, see how the car handles, what the problem will happen, what will happen. I can.”
However, as Ferrari is likely in the mix at the same points as McLaren, Norris added that the idea of sealing the title remains far from the hearts of his team.
“I don’t think we’re thinking about it at all at the moment,” he said. “We’re just trying to get the best from both cars and obviously today wasn’t the best day for that. Tomorrow is a new day. We’ll get the best results we can.”