What was "weird" about McLaren's poor performance at rough Sepang

McLaren is trying to understand why it had such a disappointing weekend at Sepang, a track it expected to suit its MCL40 despite arriving after a tougher stretch in Baku. In Malaysia, the papaya team fell well short of its rivals on abrasive tarmac. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, with a gap of six tenths to pole-sitter Max Verstappen. After an unsuccessful tyre gamble on a wet track, McLaren’s best finish was Piastri in sixth. Team principal Andrea Stella said there’s no anomaly in the data but suspects some competitors advanced faster with larger upgrades, and he expects more development items later in the season to help the team return to contention.