McLaren open talks with FIA over yellow flag that “shouldn’t have happened”

McLaren F1 boss Andrea Stella believes the FIA made a mistake with the yellow flag which ruined Lando Norris’ qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Norris was forced to abandon his final lap in Q1 due to a slow-moving Esteban Ocon.

Ocon had a puncture, and was driving around slowly as he recovered back into the pit lane.

On the approach to Turn 16, on his final effort in Q1, the yellow flag briefly appeared.

Norris was forced to lift off, ruining his lap, before running wide.

Unable to improve, Norris was eliminated in Q2, leaving him 17th on the grid for Sunday’s race in Baku.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the session, Stella explained his frustration with the flag situation.

“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.”

Stella thinks the yellow flag which disrupted Norris’ lap wasn’t “necessary”.

“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,” Stella explained.

"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."

The good news for McLaren is that their car is quick, confirmed by Oscar Piastri’s qualifying display.

Piastri secured second behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.