Why McLaren driver Oscar Piastri failed to get up to speed at the 2024 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix and where the reason for his lack of form lies
“It was difficult from the first lap on Friday and didn’t get much better over the weekend.” This is how McLaren driver Oscar Piastri describes his performance at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, where he came from ninth on the grid to finish seventh. And thus well behind his team-mate Lando Norris, who sniffed victory for McLaren.
But how can the different performances of the McLaren drivers be explained? Piastri does not yet know. He only has “a few clues” as to why he did not get up to speed in Barcelona. However, this does not yet provide a “one hundred percent conclusive” picture. Only the second half of the race was “a touch more positive” in his view. But Piastri doesn’t say why.
Just this much: he and McLaren had tried out “a lot” from Friday to Sunday, and he himself had also tried to make changes. As a result, the handling of his MCL38 was “explainable” in some corners, but not in others. He therefore “simply didn’t have much confidence” in the car and is facing a conundrum: the current situation is “really the first time in my Formula 1 career”.
Never before since 2023 has he had such a “constant battle” with his car. “It just didn’t work out,” says Piastri. This is not at all in line with the trend of recent weeks and is therefore particularly “unusual”.
“Because on the last four or five weekends, we got off to a very good start and have always improved from there. That didn’t work this weekend, for whatever reason. And when I had the feeling that I had driven a good lap, the lap time just wasn’t there.” Piastri states a “general lack of pace. And if you don’t have that, it becomes very difficult. “
Piastri: Norris’ performance is “encouraging” for McLaren
He has never experienced this in the past. Previously, Sundays had been “tougher” than Saturdays because he had not yet had such a good grip on tire wear in Formula 1. Now, however, he felt better than ever over the race distance this weekend. That was all “a bit unusual”, especially with Norris in the neighboring box.
The other McLaren driver secured pole position in Barcelona by a wafer-thin margin ahead of world championship leader Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, losing out in the Grand Prix by just 2.2 seconds. Although this does not help him personally, these results are “encouraging for the team”, says Piastri. Especially because Norris has confirmed a certain upward trend in recent weekends.
That is why he also went into the race with a “certain optimism”, explains Piastri. The aim was “perhaps to be able to fight with Mercedes and Ferrari, as long as we could get past the two Alpines quickly enough. But I didn’t overtake Gasly fast enough.” And so in the end it was only seventh place behind both Mercedes and both Ferraris, just under 30 seconds behind Norris