“During my days it was more like 18.0s”: McLaren taunted jokingly by team legend and former F1 champion for its record pit stop 

Former McLaren driver and two-time F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen jokingly contrasted the pit stops of his era and now. The team recently set the fastest pit stop world record in Qatar at 1.8 seconds.

McLaren set the record while pitting Lando Norris on the 27th lap of the Qatar GP. The team finished the pit stop in 1.80 seconds, setting a new record, previously held by Red Bull.

This new record reflects the progress that the team has made not just in terms of pace, but management as well. Norris finished the race in P3 with his teammate right ahead of him.

Mika Hakkinen posted a message on his social media which was light-hearted in tone but also appreciated how pit-stop timings have improved. He wrote:

"The @McLarenF1 team set a pit stop world record in Qatar GP with 1.80s. An incredible piece of teamwork! During my days it was more like 18.0s."

Hakkinen won both of his world championships with McLaren, back in the 1998 and 1999 seasons. He is remembered as one of the greatest drivers in motorsport and Formula 1 history. He added that the team could surprise further in COTA with their pace.

"The great form of the whole McLaren team could mean that Lando or Oscar could provide a surprise again this weekend."

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Lando Norris not 'so confident' with McLaren for the race in Texas

The United States Grand Prix is right around the corner after the Qatar GP, where Max Verstappen took his third consecutive world championship. Despite that, the real surprise has been the pace that the Papaya outfit has been carrying in recent races.

Oscar Piastri even managed to win the sprint in Qatar followed by a P2 finish in the main event which has been promising. They are threatening Aston Martin for the fourth place in the standings. However, Lando Norris is not so confident as F1 quoted him saying:

"Not so confident. Just a lot more slow speed corners, which is not our strength. I think it’s tough when you look at Singapore."

He further added that teams like Mercedes, Aston Martin, and Ferrari could prove to be very fast on the Circuit of The Americas, potentially bringing McLaren down.

"Obviously, we were not bad in Singapore, not as strong as Ferrari, but still not a bad race. But we know on these types of circuits, Mercedes are going to be very strong, Ferrari are going to be very strong, Aston here in the past have been very strong."

Despite the notion that the Briton is carrying, there might be ample in store for the team as F1 heads into the final few races of the season. They have an opportunity to get back to fourth place with their current pace and competitiveness if it carries till the end.