In modern Formula 1, raw race pace means absolutely nothing if you completely bottle your qualifying laps on Saturday afternoon. Without track position, you are simply burning up your tyres in dirty air while the race leaders cruise off into the distance.

That is the reality McLaren faced at the United States Grand Prix.

Despite bringing a highly effective upgrade package to the Circuit of the Americas, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were forced to settle for fifth and seventh, respectively. Following the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella couldn't hide his annoyance over the team squandering a massive opportunity.

The grid position penalty

While the Sunday execution was nearly flawless, Stella pointed a direct finger at the team's Saturday slump as the sole reason they missed out on spraying champagne.

“A decent Sunday following a disappointing Saturday: that sums up the weekend in Austin," Stella explained during his post-race media debrief. "Today’s race showed that the MCL40 is still capable of fighting for the podium, but it’s clear that our position on the starting grid made that goal virtually unattainable."

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Alex Slitz / Getty Images

Getting stuck in the midfield traffic jam meant Norris and Piastri spent the entire afternoon playing catch-up instead of attacking the leaders.

"There is a shared sense of frustration across the whole team at not having fully exploited our potential during qualifying, but it is up to us to try and do better," Stella admitted.

Piastri the roadblock

Despite the frustration, the underlying data from the upgraded MCL40 was incredibly promising. Norris showed lethal pace in clean air, while Piastri proved his defensive racecraft is completely bulletproof.

When Mercedes' George Russell tried to recover from a lap 1 penalty, he came up against the back of Piastri's gearbox and stayed there for half the race.

George Russell, Mercedes, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Manuel Eletto / Getty Images

"The team and the drivers worked very well, both in terms of strategic decisions and driving on the track, and the upgrades we brought here made a positive contribution," Stella noted. "Lando showed excellent pace, and Oscar drove a strong race, holding off Russell’s Mercedes for around thirty laps without ever giving him a chance to overtake."

"Corporate harmony"

Perhaps the biggest win of the weekend for Stella was avoiding a repeat of the Singapore Grand Prix, where his two drivers crashed into each other. After Lando Norris revealed earlier in the week that he received "plenty of telling-offs" from management over the incident, the papaya duo finally played nice in Texas.

"I was also pleased to see how our drivers worked together on the track, keeping in mind what the priority is, namely McLaren Mastercard’s best interests," Stella said.

While they avoided intra-team disaster, bringing home P5 and P7 isn't going to cut it if McLaren wants to hunt down Red Bull—who just leapfrogged into third—in the constructors' championship.

“Clearly, a fifth and a seventh place are not results we can be satisfied with, but we must accept it and work to improve," Stella concluded. "We want to end the season on a high and aim not only to fight for the podium but also for victory, with the aim of finishing the championship in at least third place.”

Photos from F1 United States GP - Sunday