McLaren has questioned whether the yellow flag that ruined Lando Norris’ qualifying performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was necessary.

Norris was in the opening session of qualifying on his second run and well on course to advance to Q2 when he was forced to abort his lap when a yellow flag was shown for Esteban Ocon’s slow Alpine at high-speed turns 18 and 19.

A yellow flag is waved to warn drivers of an impending accident. They must then slow down significantly and be ready to change direction. White flags are more commonly used to warn drivers of slow-moving cars. The driver does not have to take his foot off the accelerator.

When Norris saw the yellow flag, he aborted his lap and was forced to rely on his first attempt in Q1, which only earned him 17th place on the grid.

The result could be crucial to Norris’ title hopes as he looks to reduce his 62-point deficit to championship leader Max Verstappen in the remaining eight races.

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said he had discussed the yellow flag with the FIA, even though there was no way to change the outcome of the session afterwards.

“We will do our best to get back into the points and minimise the impact, but obviously this was a very unfortunate moment for Lando today,” Stella told Sky Sports.

“We are now discussing with the FIA ​​why a yellow flag was shown at that time, which was extremely costly.”

“The team didn’t say it because it was shown at the last minute. We’ve checked it now in our tools and it is indeed shown as yellow. So we’ve spoken to the FIA ​​about why that happened. The yellow flag is not necessary if a car is just slow and not on a flying lap.”

“I am sure that everyone did their best. This time there was a situation that ideally and in my opinion also according to the regulations should not have happened. We paid the price for it, but we are not giving up.

“We’ll keep going and do our best tomorrow to get some good points.”

Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri qualified second for McLaren, underlining the car’s performance.

Stella said points would be targeted for Norris on Sunday, but doubted the McLaren driver would score more points than his title rival Verstappen, who will start the race from sixth on the grid.

“If we get on the radar of a Red Bull with Lando, it means the race went very well. I would mainly try to score some points,” Stella told Sirius XM.

“And here in Azerbaijan there are red flags, there are safety cars and you definitely have to go into the race with the attitude that anything is possible and we want to take advantage of the opportunities that come our way.”