McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ended the Spanish Grand Prix in seventh place, two places up from his P9 starting position.
Speaking after the race, Piastri admitted that while the team had been optimistic that he would be able to get past both Alpine drivers and compete with Mercedes and Ferrari, this had not come to fruition as he had struggled to get past Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in the early stages of the race.
However, he added that he believed his pace at the end of the race may have been better than that of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as he copied the strategies of Norris and Leclerc by creating a tyre offset.
Despite this, Piastri was unable to get catch Sainz, and he ultimately finished the race 2.7 seconds behind the Spaniard.
“I think there was obviously some optimism that we’d get through the Alpines quickly, that maybe be in the fight with Mercedes and Ferrari, but ultimately [I] didn’t get through Gasly quick enough. But then I think after the pace was maybe a bit better towards the end of the race compared to Carlos.”
The Australian was asked whether he had been able to gain a better understanding of the issues that had affected Piastri’s performance. He stated that while he did have some ideas, he was not completely certain and would need to try to improve his understanding of the situation.
The 23-year-old was struggling for pace from the get-go as he could not find the sweet spot with the MCL38 on short and long runs.
“Some hints and potential ideas on why it was such a big struggle, but I think the magnitude of it doesn’t make 100% sense at the moment, so [I] just need to try and understand why it’s been such a big struggle this weekend.
“From the first lap of Friday, it’s been difficult, so yeah, it’s not really gotten much better through the weekend. I think the second half of the race was maybe a bit more positive.”
However, the McLaren driver denied that the Spanish Grand Prix has been the worst weekend that he had experienced in Formula 1, admitting that there had been several “tough” races in his 2023 rookie season.
“No, I don’t think so. I think some other weekends, especially in some of the other races last year, the Sundays were tough, but not so much the weekends.”
Piastri identified that his race had been primarily affected by a general lack of pace, which while beneficial for his tyre management, had been detrimental to his overall performance.
“I think here the race, especially the second half, wasn’t too bad. I think it was just a general lack of pace. I think from a tyre management point of view it was probably not a bad result, but you don’t have the pace to begin with. So yeah, I think it’s just been a big struggle, especially after one lap, which I would say does not really mean anything pace-wise.”
He added that his struggles over the weekend had been “unusual”, even more so when you compare his pace to his teammate Lando Norris, who finished the race in second, after challenging Red Bull’s Max Verstappen throughout the race, crossing the line 2s behind.
Piastri agreed that Norris’ performance had helped him maintain his optimism in the car’s ability to perform at a high level and expressed confidence in both the team’s performance and his own.
“Yeah, definitely. I think it’s been a bit unusual how much we’ve struggled on my side this weekend.
“I feel like the last four or five weekends we’ve been able to hit the ground running very well, and just build from there, and this weekend it’s just not been happening for whatever reason.”
Piastri stated that he, for the most part, felt as if he had driven well, albeit with slower lap times than his teammate. However, he praised Norris’ performance and described it as being very good for the team.
He added that he needs to try and find a solution to unlock the pace of the MCL38 on his side of the garage.
“Apart from the odd lap here or there that’s felt like I’ve driven it very well, with just not the same ease of lap time.
“So yeah, I think the fact that Lando’s been quick at a very different circuit to the last three or four, much more high speed, on his bump at the end, almost won the race, I think is very encouraging for the team, just that it’s not on my side, I need to unlock that pace.”
Despite expressing a desire to improve his performance, Piastri reiterated that his showing at the Spanish Grand Prix was unusually average.
He stated that while he had tried a few different things, he had been unable to improve his performance as much as desired. Piastri added that it had been the first time in his F1 career that he had lacked confidence in the car.
“Yeah, I would say it’s the first weekend where it’s been such a consistent struggle the whole way through. I think [on] some weekends last year, the race was difficult, but qualifying was not bad. This weekend it’s just been a struggle the whole way through, even for practice. It’s just not been happening.
“So, yeah, I obviously just need to understand why it’s been the case, and I’ve tried a fair few different things. The set-up, but it’s just not been, I’ve just not had much confidence in the car, which is really the first time I’ve had that in F1.”
When asked if there was anything obvious in what he was doing that could explain the deficiencies in his performance, Piastri stated that he and the team had tried to work on solutions.
However, he reiterated the need for more time to investigate the factors which had affected his performance and expressed his confidence in his team’s ability to “get on top of it.”
“Yeah, we’ve tried a lot, both with the car and with myself. Some of the corners I would say are explainable, [but] others [aren’t]. Some of the corners where I’ve felt I’ve driven them well have been worse than the corners where I know I’ve messed them up, which when you’re having qualifying laps like that, it doesn’t fill you with much confidence.
“I just need to understand why that was the case this weekend. But yeah, I’m confident that we’ll be on top of it.”
