McLaren brings home P4-P5 without threatening the podium

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished fourth and fifth, just 0.197 seconds apart. Norris came out ahead in their late fight, while Piastri recovered part of the ground lost through his three-place grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson in qualifying.

The result is still solid on points, but it also confirms that McLaren did not have the pace at Monza it had shown in its recent wins. Norris finished 19.056 seconds behind Antonelli and Piastri 19.253 back. Neither seriously threatened Verstappen for the podium in the closing phase.

The 22 points take McLaren to 287 in the constructors’ standings, 59 behind Ferrari and 83 ahead of Red Bull.

Madrid will provide a completely different reference. The Madring is a brand-new circuit, so it will not simply confirm or disprove the low-downforce weakness seen at Monza. McLaren’s priority is to regain a level that allows it to fight Mercedes across an entire weekend.