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McLaren

McLaren break F1 record in Qatar

The team broke a long-standing record held by Red Bull during the Qatar Grand Prix.

Norris Qatar
Article
To news overview © XPBimages

McLaren's fastest pit stop during the Qatar Grand Prix broke Red Bull's long-standing world record speed.

The team topped off its weekend with the quickest stop following a victory for Oscar Piastri in the Sprint race, and a double podium in the Grand Prix.

The race was unique for F1 as it was the first time maximum stint lengths have been mandated, with drivers having to stop after completing no more than 18 laps on their tyres on safety grounds.

It meant that there were 54 pit stops over the course of the 57-lap race, with McLaren coming out on top.

The 1.80-second pit stop by Lando Norris on Lap 27 broke the world record set by Red Bull at the 2019 Brazilian GP, which was 1.82 seconds.

Red Bull was actually fifth quickest with its comparatively average 2.24s stop for Sergio Perez, while Ferrari was second ahead of AlphaTauri.

Red Bull crown taken away

Red Bull is usually the leader in this field, having set the benchmark at the Malaysian GP in 2013 with a 2.05-second stop for Mark Webber.

The team surpassed its own record later in the year in Austin, completing the first sub-two-second stop [1.923s] with Webber.

Three years later this was smashed by Felipe Massa at the Azerbaijan GP, when the Williams pit crew completed a 1.92-second stop.

There was a run of records in 2019 when Red Bull produced a 1.91-second stop for Pierre Gasly at Silverstone, followed by a 1.88-second service for Max Verstappen at the Hockenheimring before the long-standing record was set in Brazil.

F1 2023 Qatar Grand Prix RN365 News dossier

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