Oscar Piastri is not really getting to grips with his McLaren in Barcelona – Slipping out in qualifying was just the highlight of a mixed day
If it hadn’t been for the gravel bed, he would probably have understeered all the way to the Mediterranean. Oscar Piastri’s qualifying at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was a set of x’s. However, even before he had sunk his only flying lap in Q3 (the first one had been disallowed due to track limits) into the gravel in the third-last corner, things were anything but good.
“It didn’t look good. Yes, it certainly wouldn’t have been pole position,” says the Australian about his lap before the off. “I don’t feel like I gave away a good result. At best, seventh or eighth place might have been possible.”
Which doesn’t make the worries any less, of course. Piastri, who is contesting his second Formula 1 season, has only beaten Norris twice in races this season – once due to strategy in Jeddah and once in the procession in Monaco. In the qualifying duel, Norris has extended his lead to 7:3. Piastri is slowly losing his unofficial number 2 status.
“I just didn’t have the pace, which is obviously not ideal,” says Mark Webber’s protégé. “I have to find out why that was the case. It just didn’t come naturally all weekend.”
“In the past four or five races, I’ve felt comfortable in the car from the first practice lap and have improved from there. This weekend it just didn’t work. It looked a bit better on Friday, but for some reason it just didn’t click today.”
“Since we had half the update on the car in Miami and the full update in Imola, it’s been really good to drive. Especially in Imola, I felt very, very comfortable from the first lap. And the car hasn’t changed since then. This weekend, for whatever reason, that was not the case. “
The problem was compounded by the fact that it didn’t just occur in one place, but repeatedly in different places: “It was a bit random, which for me is an indicator that I didn’t have much confidence in the car.”
“If it’s consistent in one or two corners, you can say, ‘Okay, he [Lando] is doing a better job.’ But one session it was one corner, the next another. The last sector was always a bit difficult. It was difficult to find the limit.”
The 23-year-old has no real explanation. “It’s little things, but it’s always little things. I don’t have any answers at the moment.” He rules out the update as the cause, as it has worked well on other tracks. The tires? “That could be the reason. It’s hard to say. “
Understeer = F1 SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/Jd0JHWQUIo
– Formula 1 (@F1) June 22, 2024
Or perhaps the fact that the track is very familiar to many teams? “Yes and no. This means that everyone can get to work straight away. One of my strengths is that I got up to speed relatively quickly on other tracks. Everyone started the weekend stronger here, but for some reason that’s not the case for me.”
The mistake itself is also still a mystery to him: “My lap was nothing special at that point. I knew I had nothing to lose and just got a massive amount of understeer. I don’t know if I was trying to carry too much speed or if I had a gust of wind or what. The behavior of the car wasn’t very predictable all day.”
