One thing that might explain McLaren’s scrappy start to qualifying is that they had been out a long time since the restart.
Lando Norris came into the pits briefly to change tires, but he clearly had the fuel to get through the whole way.
It’s not the best way to build a rhythm for the ultimate lap times, but McLaren had no long run data after the sprint disaster and any information it can get about how the tires are degrading will be handy for the main race tomorrow.