Andrea Stella confident McLaren are "definitely in the game and ready for Barcelona fight"

Lando Norris qualified P4 and Oscar Piastri P7, but only a tenth of a second separated third place from seventh on the grid, underlining just how competitive the session proved to be.

The result came despite a frustrating interruption for Norris, whose first Q3 lap was ruined by a Red Flag just moments before he completed what looked to be a strong effort.

Stella said: "We are back in a situation where four teams are incredibly close to one another, which is great news and a positive step forward for us after Monaco. Today was a bit of a missed opportunity.

"Primarily because Lando was incredibly unlucky with the Red Flag. He was on a very strong first lap just 250 metres from the finish line, which forced him to be cautious on his final attempt to ensure we got a time on the board."

McLaren had executed qualifying well up to Q3, ensuring both drivers had two fresh sets of Soft tyres available for the final shootout. However, the Red Flag dramatically changed Norris' afternoon.

"We showed some progress today and I'm reasonably happy with P4," Norris reflected. "The Red Flag in the final corner on my first push lap was unlucky and probably cost us a shot at P3, but P4 is still a strong place to start."

Norris felt McLaren had taken a clear step forward compared to Monaco, even if the gap to pole position remained significant: "Compared to Monaco, we're back closer to where we should be, and the pace felt better overall. With that said, the gap to Pole, around three and a half tenths, is still significant.

"The car wasn't easy to drive with the wind and heat making it inconsistent, especially at the rear. It's going to be a hot, high-degradation race and tyre management will be everything. Strategy could go one, two, or even three stops depending on how the tyres behave," added the reigning F1 World Champion.

Piastri's P7 grid position masked how close the Australian came to starting much higher: "It was incredibly tight today, with such a small gap from third down to us in P7. We lost more than expected in the final sector.

"We need to review why because the lap up to then felt good. Right now, Mercedes looks strong, and Ferrari have taken a step with their upgrades. Their corner speeds have been impressive all season, even if they're still paying a price on the straights."

Despite that, the Australian believes strategy could still create opportunities "Tomorrow will likely be a long, hot two-stop race, maybe more, and the key will be managing degradation and maintaining pace across the stints. Strategy and tyre offsets could open up opportunities, and we feel more in the fight than last week."

Stella expects Sunday's race to be decided by strategy, tyre degradation and execution rather than outright pace alone. "The Grand Prix will be heavily dictated by strategy, race pace, and tyre management.

"While we know we still have work to do from a technical standpoint to fully optimise our tyre exploitation over a race distance, our qualifying and race pace are closely matched this year. We are definitely in the game and looking forward to an exciting fight down into Turn 1," added the McLaren F1 boss.

With Norris P4 and Piastri P7 on the grid, the Woking outfit know challenging Mercedes and Ferrari over 66 laps will be difficult. Yet after a difficult Monaco weekend, Stella believes the team has taken an important step forward.