McLaren’s Carlos Sainz says the hard tyre stint destroyed after a promising start to F1 Mexico GP as Lando Norris suffers another mishap.
Mclaren has a disappointing Sunday in F1 Mexico GP as the hard tyres choice undone Sainz’s race after a promising start, while teammate Norris was forced to retire after the team made a muck out of his pit stop with a lose wheel.
Staying with Sainz, the Spaniard was once again in thick of things due to the Mercedes and Red Bull Racing fight as he managed to be fourth behind Alexander Albon and ahead of Lewis Hamilton. He looked solid for the race but it all went down from there.
He lamented their lack of pace on the white-striped compound was ‘incredible’, something which they have to look into. “It was incredible how much we struggled on that hard tyre after making the soft last pretty well, and after such a good start,” said Sainz.
“We need to analyse what happened with that hard tyre as to why it was going on in that way. I was sliding around so much around with no grip as we jut went backwards, and having to commit to a two-stop in the end was a pity.
“The hard tyre simply ruined our race. I just did what I wanted to do, which is to get another good start and it is one more in the books, which is always nice. I managed the soft tyre, which we did pretty well, so it was that mid-part of the race that killed us.
“The car felt quite strange, with the hot air, track temp.” Norris, on the other hand, was also hindered by the hard tyre, albeit, the rubber was the least of his concerns, with minor damage, a terrible pitstop, and traffic leading to his demise.
“I think we had a wheel nut cross-threaded at my stop, I’m not too sure, but the team decided to play safe by immediately stopping the car and bring it back to check it,” said Norris. “I was running pretty much a lap down and had several blue flags.
“Some parameters of the car were beyond the limit and we retired to avoid further damage. Before that, I had another really good start, a good first few corners and managed to get ahead of one of the Red Bulls and one of the Mercedes.
“My first stint was good and we had better pace than the Toro Rossos.” Even with a bad weekend with no points for Sainz and Norris, the Woking-based outfit is still fairly ahead of Renault, Racing Point and Toro Rosso, who are in contention for fourth.
Here’s how the F1 Mexico GP panned out
Here’s what Lewis Hamilton said about Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez chuffed with his finish as Daniel Ricciardo disappointed
Charles Leclerc will learn to be more decisive like Sebastian Vettel in races
Valtteri Bottas puts it on Max Verstappen for their Mexico GP clash
The story was written by Duncan Leahy and edited by Darshan Chokhani