McLaren may have failed to take the Qatar Grand Prix victory away from Max Verstappen on Sunday, but they did make history at the Lusail International Circuit, breaking the world record for the fastest pit stop in F1 history.
This record was taken away from Red Bull, who had previously recorded a 1.82-second stop when servicing Verstappen’s car at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. McLaren’s stop was recorded at 1.8 seconds exactly on lap 29 in Qatar as Lando Norris cycled through the pit lane.
With a piece of F1 history now attached to their weekend, McLaren can look back on a special trip to the Doha desert. The Woking-based outfit made significant gains on rivals Aston Martin in the Constructor Championship, cutting the deficit down to just 11 points ahead of the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
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There was plenty of individual success, too. In-form rookie Oscar Piastri recorded his first-ever F1 victory in the sprint race on Saturday before following that up with a career-best Grand Prix finish of second place on Sunday.
Norris, meanwhile, finished in third place for both races. The 23-year-old was clearly disappointed not to have been challenging for the top two spots, but that attitude shows how far McLaren have come since kicking off the season with pointless outings in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
In his post-race debrief, team principal Andrea Stella commented: “A fantastic day for the team as we achieve our 500th podium in Formula 1. Both Lando and Oscar drove great races in difficult conditions to finish P2 and P3 to add to the success in the Sprint yesterday.
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“A double podium rewards the team both trackside and at the factory for their brilliant work and my thanks go to them for their continued commitment and dedication to McLaren.
“The tyre limitations provided an interesting challenge for the team as we had to adapt our strategy and prepare the team for six stops. However, they managed very well and the brilliant work by the pit-stop crew saw the fastest stop of 1.8 seconds.
“We now turn our focus to a busy triple-header and continue to close the gap to our competitors. We must remain with our feet on the ground, however, for now, we will celebrate the success of a very strong weekend.”
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