Stella expects Singapore to clarify McLaren's Sepang pace

McLaren heads to Singapore seeking a clearer reading of its performance at Sepang. Team principal Andrea Stella said the team saw no anomaly in its data, while allowing that rivals may have made bigger development gains.

At Sepang, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified sixth and seventh, six tenths off Max Verstappen's pole. Piastri was McLaren's top finisher in sixth.

Stella said McLaren's upgrades had increased the car's potential, but its competitiveness on track suggested the team had lost ground relative to rivals. He cautioned against drawing too much from one weekend at Sepang.

Stella could not yet say whether Singapore would suit McLaren, but expected the weekend to give the team a better answer about its upgrades and relative competitiveness.