Although McLaren headed into the race weekend with a victory as their target, their major upgrade package didn’t work as intended as neither driver managed to score a podium finish at the United States Grand Prix. After a shocking Q1 exit in the sprint qualifying, a modest P5 start gave Oscar Piastri an opportunity to make up some ground in the race on Sunday. However, the Australian driver struggled for pace in comparison to the rapid Ferraris in particular and finished where he started in fifth place.
Speaking afterwards, Piastri was asked to address whether it was a trickier weekend for him. Stating that his performance on Sunday was a step forward when compared to his results on Saturday, the 23-year-old claimed that his pace was relatively similar to that of Lando Norris’s for the majority of the race.
Moreover, Piastri added that Norris clinching the pole position in qualifying made the MCL38 look more competitive than it actually was and that finishing off the podium was not a surprising outcome for the team.
“Yeah, it’s not been straightforward, that’s for sure. I think today seemed a little bit more positive than yesterday. I think my pace, relative to Lando [Norris] at least, was pretty similar for a lot of it.
“Obviously we did finish fourth or fifth though, or third [without the penalty] or fifth. It’s not really the result you want.
“I think, to be honest, it’s not a complete surprise where we ended up and where Ferrari ended up.
“I think, to be honest, Lando made us look more competitive than we were yesterday. So I think fourth and fifth today is not completely unexpected.”
In terms of whether he agreed with his team principal Andrea Stella on his assessment that the United States Grand Prix was going to be the most difficult of the final run of races, Piastri shared similar opinions. Emphasising their potential to be quick over a single lap, he stated that extracting that pace had proved to be a massive challenge for the team.
Furthermore, referring to their strengths and weaknesses in performances from the previous season, Piastri remarked that he expects them to be more competitive in the upcoming races. At the same time, he expressed caution about the resurgence of Ferrari and the threat they can pose for the remainder of the 2024 season.
“I hope so. We’ll see. I mean, the car has been very tricky all weekend. I think over one lap it’s had potential to be quick, but trying to unlock it has been incredibly tough.
“And then over the race, you can’t get away with the same things you can over one lap. And the true pace really shows itself a lot more. I hope this is our weakest of the next six.
“We obviously had some good races at the tracks that are coming up last year. We had some bad races at some of the tracks coming up. I think, in general, we should be a bit more competitive.
“But I’m certainly not expecting Ferrari to be out of the picture for the rest of the year either. I think they’ve gone a little bit under the radar in the last few races. Monza, they were obviously very quick. Baku was very, very tough to hold them back. And Singapore, I think, without their poor qualifying, they would’ve been very, very competitive. And this weekend is the same.
“So I think that this is kind of not a completely unexpected result for them. But we obviously need to try and make sure we turn that around next time.”
On the topic of Norris overtaking Max Verstappen off track and receiving a 5-second penalty that demoted him to fourth place, Piastri refused to share any strong opinions. Nonetheless, he called into question the decision, stating that both drivers went off the track during the contentious incident.
“I have a bit, yes. I’ve seen it briefly. I mean, it’s not really that much for me to comment on.
“The only thing I would say is both cars went off the track. So, yeah, I feel like it’s a bit difficult to give a penalty for both cars going off the track.
“So, yeah, I don’t know what happened at turn 1 either. It looked pretty dicey.”
In terms of whether the guidelines for these penalties are clear enough, Piastri responded that they lack transparency, citing the penalty he received during the sprint race despite not venturing off the track.
Labelling these decisions as difficult, the two-time race winner also highlighted the differences in interpretations and how it can be tough for the stewards to assess these moments from the outside of the cockpit of an F1 car. Regardless, he criticised the inconsistent decision-making and suggested that the issue would be raised in the near future.
“I mean, I think if you look at my penalty from the sprint, it was basically a carbon copy of Max [Verstappen] and Lando [Norris]. But I stayed on the track and I got the penalty. So, no, it’s not very clear.
“It’s tough. It’s just very difficult. I feel like as drivers we also all kind of have different interpretations of what we think is fair and what’s not. Especially when it comes to being on the outside of another driver. But the difference of 10 centimetres or 20 centimetres can be the difference of you having the right to space or not having the right to space.
“And obviously for stewards who have generally not driven a car very much, it’s very tough to judge that in the moment especially.
“I think my incident yesterday and Lando and Max’s today looked very similar with the opposite penalties. So I’m sure we’ll have some questions.”
With regard to the question of why he struggled for pace, specifically in the first ten laps of the race, Piastri admitted that he didn’t have an answer. Stating that their pace in the second stint on the hard compound tyres was fairly decent, the Australian acknowledged that the Woking-based team needs to analyse why they struggled considerably on the medium tyres for the first ten or fifteen laps and gained momentum afterwards at Austin.
“Really don’t know. Even the first 2 or 3 laps, both of us, it looked like we were really struggling to hang on to the pack ahead. And then for the first 10 or 15 laps we really struggled; don’t know why.
“We were struggling a bit with the tyres and then they came back and the medium looked very strong considering it was pretty dead. So, a bit of a confusing one to read and to think even the pace in the second part of the race was maybe not amazing but not terrible.
“So some things to try and understand because we obviously can’t change the car from lap 15 to the rest of the laps. So we need to understand why we suddenly found some pace.”
