McLaren ‘thrilled’ with Spanish GP pole but not ‘satisfied’
12th September 2026McLaren’s Andrea Stella has claimed the team are ‘thrilled’ with Lando Norris’ pole position but not overly satisfied with their qualifying performance.
Feature image credit: McLaren Racing
The defending world champion has claimed his third pole position of the season, becoming the first driver to do so at the Madring which made its debut this weekend as the host to the Spanish Grand Prix.
Despite the team’s third pole position of the year, all at the hands of the reigning world champion, McLaren’s team principal claims the team are not ‘entirely satisfied’ with qualifying, believing there to be more on the table for the sister car, driven by Oscar Piastri.
Piastri ultimately qualified seventh, in between Mercedes’ George Russell (sixth) and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson (eighth), with a tenth and a half separating the Australian from the trailing Mercedes.
Following qualifying, Stella acknowledged it was a tight fight amongst the top 10 but on a track where is has been proven to be difficult to overtake – with the likes of the junior categories – they expected more could’ve come from the sister car. The McLaren team principal said:
“While we are thrilled with Pole, we are not entirely satisfied as we feel there was more to be achieved with Oscar, who was unfortunately just a fraction away from a much higher grid slot in this incredibly tight field.”
Lando Norris pips Kimi Antonelli by 0.011s for Spanish Grand Prix pole
Piastri backed this statement up claiming that he was ‘disappointed’ with his own qualifying performance, suggesting the car felt better in the final hour of practice compared to qualifying. He said:
“P7. I’m a bit disappointed with that one. Overall, it was a bit of a messy session and the car felt nicer in FP3 than it did in Qualifying. We improved it a bit through the three Qualifying sessions, but I didn’t have that last bit we needed in the last run.”
At the top of the grid, Norris had endured a troubled weekend in Madrid making his pole position lap impressive. On Friday’s afternoon session, the defending world champion was forced to miss out most of the hour as the team went to work on a gearbox issue, with the team claiming it to be a ‘sub-optimal’ start to the weekend.
Despite this, Stella had confirmed that Norris still had pace left out on track during qualifying, but praised his lap was ‘at the level of a world champion.’
According to the team principal, the defending world champion had made a mistake into the final corner where he had lost three-tenths of lap time.
“Lando’s lap was at the level of a World Champion, and the most incredible part is that he secured Pole despite a three-tenth mistake in the final corner, which shows just how much pace we truly had,” said Stella.
“It’s a testament to his talent, especially after missing a practice session, and to the brilliant work from everyone at the track and back at the factory to give him that confidence.”
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Lando Norris pips Kimi Antonelli by 0.011s for Spanish Grand Prix pole
- Kimi Antonelli goes fastest in red-flag filled Spanish Grand Prix final practice
- Antonelli fastest in Spanish Grand Prix FP2 as Lindblad brings out red flag
- Was putting Leclerc and Hamilton as teammates a mistake?
- George Russell tops debut practice at Spanish Grand Prix Madring
- Alpine’s Monza Surprise: More Than Just Pole Position
- Hamilton suggests Ferrari need to ‘address’ priority rules
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
