McLaren finished 17th in the final round of the 2023 F1 season opener Bahrain Grand Prix, with Lando Norris in 17th and Oscar Piastri having retired. The McLaren race could not have been worse. Lando Norris’ power unit had problems early on and he had to refill the intake air every few laps. As a result, the car made 6 pit stops and finished in last place.
In addition, Piastri retired due to problems with the electronic control. Bahrain was a very difficult opening for the team. Andrea Stella (Team Principal): “We didn’t start the season as we had hoped. We could have scored some points today and the cars had competitive pace in their race stages, especially Lando. We were in a position, but unfortunately we were hit by two reliability issues: Oscar retired with an electrical problem, which is currently being investigated, while Lando was on the power unit side. We had a pneumatic leak, which meaning we have to set every 10 laps to recharge the system. we have work to do, leaving Bahrain, but the season is long, I will be able to run again in Saudi Arabia.” Lando Norris (17th) “It was a very tough race. I tried to hang in there for the rest of the time, just in case the safety car came out and I might have had a chance at the end. We had too many problems and I would try again next time.” Oscar Piastri (DNF) “It’s a shame it ended so early I think we’ve done a good job so far, we still haven’t found out what the problem is, we thought that changing the steering wheel would fix it but unfortunately it didn’t, the race was what we wanted I got nothing but there are some positives and I think the car moved better in the race, but I did still a lot to learn and I’m glad I got to experience my first F1 race weekend on my debut. have a better weekend in Saudi Arabia.”
