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Papaya Army Slam McLaren’s “Abomination” As Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri Suffer Miserable Fortunes: “Can’t Do This Again”

Published 03/05/2023, 1:13 PM EST

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Trouble doesn’t seem to end for McLaren as the British constructors were hit with a new low in Bahrain. The opening race of the 2023 F1 season saw both McLaren have reliability issues and had to go home without a point! After Saturday’s disaster in qualification, there were expectations regarding points finish from Lando Norris. But it was a distant dream as the Woking-based team failed to provide a competitive car to the Briton as well as to the Australian. As soon as the race got over, papaya fans from all over the world shared their sorrowful reactions on social media.

The first driver to take the hit between the two was Norris when he stopped for the second time after having an issue with his power unit. This not only left the Briton languishing at the bottom but also took away point possibilities in Bahrain. Then came Piastri, who waited and waited in the pit lane until he was forced to retire from the race, citing an electronic issue. In the end, Norris finished the race in P17, about two laps after Max Verstappen crossed the chequered flag.

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Fans reacted as the official Twitter handle of McLaren posted on the disaster in Bahrain. They wrote, “#BahrainGP is one to forget. We’ll debrief as a team and then focus on round two in Saudi Arabia. Still, a long way to go this season.” This leaves McLaren languishing at the bottom of the table with zero points alongside Haas and AlphaTauri.

Unhappy papaya fans react online as McLaren showed “disasterclass”

As soon as the race got over, fans were quick to share their reactions to the McLaren situation. While some of the feedback was supportive, most of them were bashing Zak Brown, Andrea Stella, and team engineers over their failure to produce a competitive car.

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Given below are some of the reactions taken on this from Twitter:

This comes right after the disappointment in the qualifying session on Saturday where Norris finished the session in P11, whereas debutant Piastri finished in a worse P18 to round off the qualification for the papayas.

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As things stand, it’ll be more than just hard for the Woking-based team to come back from this and be competitive again. Given that teams like Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, and Alpine are already faster than McLaren, the papayas will have a hard time holding on to the mid-field section.

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Do you believe McLaren can turn around from here with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri this season? Let us know.

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Written by:

Sabyasachi Biswas

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Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 and NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. He has completed his Master's in Mass Communication and Journalism from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Sabyasachi is an ardent Red Bull and Max Verstappen fan and has been following the sport for over a decade now.
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Edited by:

Varunkumaar Chelladurai