Motor racing-McLaren confident ahead of final races despite Vegas setback

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By Alan Baldwin

DOHA (Reuters) -Formula One champions McLaren are confident title contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be fully up to speed for the last two races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi despite their disqualification in Las Vegas.

Team principal Andrea Stella said in a team Q&A on Thursday that nothing would change in how the team went racing and what happened in Vegas last Sunday, with excessive wear to the rear skids, was specific to that street circuit.

“We have a well-established and consolidated way of setting up the car and we are confident that this will lead us to an optimal plan for the coming races, starting from the Lusail International Circuit (this weekend),” he said.

“Nevertheless, we learn from every lesson and the one in Las Vegas has been able to provide some useful information about the operating window of the car and the porpoising regime.”

“Porpoising” is a phenomenon linked to ground-effect aerodynamics that occurs when a car repeatedly bounces on its suspension when travelling at high speed, losing downforce before gaining it again. 

Stella said McLaren experienced “large vertical oscillations” in Las Vegas.

NO EXCESSIVE RISKS TAKEN

“The level of porpoising was exacerbated by the conditions in which the car operated during the race, and it was not anticipated based on what we had seen in practice and based on the predictions of the car operating window in the race.”

He denied the team took excessive risks in terms of ride height and said they added a clearance safety margin for qualifying and for the race, but that had been negated by the unexpected oscillations which caused the car floor to hit the ground.

Stella said that going slower, which should have increased clearance, was only partially effective and actually proved counterproductive in some areas of the track.

“What happened in Vegas was due to an anomaly in the behaviour of the car, rather than it being the outcome of an excessive or unreasonable chase of performance,” the Italian team principal said.

“We, as a team, constantly learn from experience and we calibrate our approach all the time and we will certainly use any information gained through the situation experienced in Vegas.”

Norris is 24 points clear of Piastri and Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen with two rounds to go – two grands prix and a sprint race – worth a total of 58 points.

Stella said McLaren, who have already clinched a second successive constructors’ title, would not change how they managed the drivers.

“There is no reason to do so. We have always said that as long as the math does not say otherwise, we would leave it up to the two drivers to fight for their chance at the final victory, and that is how it will be in Qatar,” he said.

“Now we are going to fight for the double world championship with confidence and awareness of our strength.”

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; editing by Mark Heinrich)