After Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri gets his lap time deleted as McLaren F1 suffers double whammy in the Qatar Grand Prix qualifying

McLaren suffered a major backlash during the qualifying session of the Qatar Grand Prix, as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had their lap times deleted for exceeding track limits.

The Lusail International Circuit is cruel when it comes to drivers keeping their cars within the track limits because of the fast-paced corners that the entire circuit has.

This was one of the biggest issues that teams faced during the qualifying session earlier today (October 6) and became Lando Norris' nightmare, who, despite setting in the second-fastest lap, was put back down to P10 due to exceeding the track limits on turn 10.

While this made way for his teammate Oscar Piastri to step up to P3, he too, suffered the same fate and was pushed further to P6 after a late decision from the stewards.

Piastri apparently took his car well beyond the white lines on turn 14, which made his lap illegitimate and put him further down the grid order. This is not the first time that many drivers suffered from this issue as it was noticed during the Austrian GP as well.

Although the Australian only dropped three positions, Lando Norris would have to work hard as he would start P10. He had set no lap time previously and was on his final flying lap when he crossed the track.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz faced similar issues and was knocked out during Q2 with Red Bull's Sergio Perez also on the list.

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Lando Norris criticizes Fernando Alonso's 'silly' remark

McLaren has shown signs of great improvement in the recent races and it looks as if they are in direct competition with Aston Martin who has been having a tough time after a mesmerizing start to the season.

However, Fernando Alonso came ahead earlier to state that it would be 'good' for McLaren to be overconfident with their pace so that Aston Martin could get them later in the final stages of the season.

Lando Norris did not take this nicely, as he hit back at the Spaniard, stating that he makes others 'look bad,' and should not be making 'silly' comments like these. Motorsport Week quoted him saying:

"Fernando is Fernando, he’s always gonna say things. He always makes himself look very good or makes other people look bad. He’s very good at that."

He added:

"I would say it’s silly for him to think the opposite. He’s a smart guy, he’s not silly in any way. I’m confident that we can do it just because if we can have more P2s, P3s and things, it’s possible."