After a few challenging weeks, World Championship leader Oscar Piastri also faltered during the qualifying round for the Mexico City Grand Prix. The Australian had to settle for the seventh starting position and struggled to explain his lack of pace compared to teammate Lando Norris, who secured pole position. Somewhat frustrated, he now focuses on a strong start in Mexico.
“I simply had zero pace, so that’s a bit of a mystery,” Piastri sighed to the press in Mexico. “The gap to Norris has been more or less the same all weekend, so we’re going to see where exactly things are going wrong. Of course, that’s frustrating,” he admitted. Norris has made a significant comeback in the championship in recent weeks; the difference between the two McLaren drivers is only fourteen World Championship points heading into Mexico.
“Everything feels familiar in the car,” Piastri explained. “Only this weekend and last weekend it seemed like the speed wasn’t there. I’m not one hundred percent sure why yet, so we’re definitely going to investigate that.” The Australian starts directly behind title rival Max Verstappen, who still needs to make up forty World Championship points to become champion. “I’ll do my best heading into the first corner,” Piastri concluded hopefully. “That will be my chance to gain ground. We’ll see what I can do.”
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella also found the differences between Norris and Piastri striking – the gap between them was over half a second. “There’s still some room for improvement on Oscar’s side,” he admitted. “He finds it harder to utilize the car when conditions change, as was also the case in Austin. We need to analyze and improve that. He loses a few milliseconds in every corner; it’s a matter of finding the right feel under changing conditions. He needs to push that little bit extra in every corner. Fortunately, the race pace is in order for both drivers – I’m confident that Piastri can make up positions.”
