Lando Norris qualified sixth for the Bahrain Grand Prix, but a misjudgement of the water on the Sepang circuit meant within a lap he was fighting from the back of the pack. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has admitted that this mistake came from a single miscalculation that turned what could have been an interesting race into an exercise of damage control for both Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri.
The papaya-coloured team sent both cars out on medium compound tyres while the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes had their cars equipped with softs. The Woking squad expected the track would reward whoever committed to a slick compound after it quickly dried, but it took a lot longer than expected for this to happen.
