McLaren blames unnecessary yellow flag for Norris’ shock result in Baku qualifying

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella insisted that an unnecessary yellow flag was the reason for Lando Norris’s shock elimination from the first part of today’s qualifying session at Baku.

On the back of a series of strong results, there was huge drama today at the McLaren camp, with championship challenger Lando Norris failing to make it out of Q1 amid a moment in the final sector.

The Briton ran into a yellow-flag segment of the track which was because of the slow-moving Alpine of Esteban Ocon. This means that the two-time F1 race winner will start Sunday’s race down in 17th place.

Reflecting on his shock result, Norris said: “Just everyone did their second laps and I didn’t so. I had to lift [for yellows]. It is what it is, long race ahead, we have some good tyres in the bank, I don’t know.

“I’m still hopeful we can get a good result, the car is still quick. A little bit frustrating but nothing I could do.”

Speaking to Sky Sports after the session, McLaren team principal Andera Stella explained his frustration with the flag situation, claiming that the yellow flag was not necessary.

“The bitter element is that the other car is at the back of the grid tomorrow,” Stella said. “We will do our best to get back into the points, minimise the impact, but obviously that was a very unfortunate moment for Lando today.

“We were discussing now with the FIA as to why a yellow flag was displayed at that moment in time, which was extremely costly. The team didn’t say it because it was displayed last minute and we checked right now in our tools and it is actually displayed as a yellow, so we were in conversations with the FIA as to why that happened because the yellow flag isn’t necessary when there’s a car is just a slow car, it is not on a flying lap.

“Everyone tried their best I’m sure, this time there was a situation that ideally, and I think by the regulations, shouldn’t have happened. We paid the price but we don’t give up. We move on, we will do our best tomorrow to get some good points.”