McLaren botched the wet-to-dry call in Bahrain and sent both drivers backward from the opening lap. Team principal Andrea Stella owned the mistake: his crew bet the track would dry fast enough for slicks to work immediately, but the crossover took longer than they calculated. Lando Norris started sixth on mediums while Red Bull and Mercedes ran softs, and within a lap he was mired at the back with zero grip. Oscar Piastri bailed after one lap and swapped to inters; Norris stayed out and bled time.
The trap was set on the formation laps. The inters were shredding so quickly and Sepang's asphalt historically switches on slicks so easily that McLaren convinced themselves the gamble would pay. It didn't. Piastri overruled his engineers and cut his losses. Norris trusted the pit wall and paid for it, clawing back to ninth after a late safety car. The misjudgment cost McLaren points they'll need as the constructors' fight tightens through the final third of the season.
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