McLaren’s Oscar Piastri expressed that his P7 finish at today’s 2024 Spanish GP has been a “big struggle” for him. Despite seeing it as “not a bad result”, it’s still unclear why he “didn’t have the pace to begin with”.
Following a P10 run in the qualifiers, the Australian somehow managed to grab a P7 spot today. Although his partner Lando Norris became a ‘podium finisher’, he failed to enter into the top-five.
Regarding this, Piastri came out to spill his thoughts after the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix today.
Oscar Piastri 2024 Spanish GP: P7 finish has been ‘big struggle’, but ‘not a bad result’
As the lights went out today, Oscar Piastri hoped to work his way up as the top-five finishers. But, he could improve only three spots from his starting P10 position. In the end, he coped with a P7 finish with a race time of 1:28:53.987.
To be precise, his lap time was 33.760s more than ‘pole-sitter’ Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Scuderia Ferrari’s racers–Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz–were right above him at P5 and P6. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (P3) and George Russell (P4) occupied the second row of the timesheets, just below Norris. Notably, Piastri’s most positive highlight was outpacing Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez.
In a post-race session, Oscar Piastri seemed frustrated and confused over his P7 finish. Beginning his assessment of the race, he started by talking about his ‘speed fight’ with the Alpines and Carlos Sainz. He said:
“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 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, but I don’t know.”
When asked about his take on the weekend, he answered:
“Some hints and potential ideas on why it was such a big struggle, but I think the magnitude of it is.”
“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, but I don’t know.”
Piastri blames ‘general lack of pace’ for the P7 finish, but says still ‘probably not a bad result’ based on tire management
Following up, Piastri was asked whether today’s race was his biggest struggle as a F1 racer or not. Denying it, he confirmed that he struggled more in some race weekends in the 2023 F1 season. Explaining it, he added:
“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.”
“I think here the race, especially the second half, wasn’t too bad. I think it was just a general lack of pace.”
Moreover, he also revealed that his P7 was “probably not a bad result from a tire management point of view”. But, he asserted that he just “didn’t have the pace to begin with”. Noting his pace, he further added:
“I think from a tire 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 finds it ‘a bit unusual’ how much he ‘struggled from his side this weekend’
Afterwards, he was asked whether he thought that he needed to find the pace within himself, since Norris’ side of the garage seems to have it together. Answering this, he continued by saying:
“Yeah, definitely.”
“I think it’s been a bit unusual how much we’ve struggled on my side this weekend.”
“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.”
“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.”
Subsequently, he was asked, “Is it one of those things where you’re wondering if there’s something in the car that doesn’t work as well, or should do, because it feels like a global problem?”.
“Yeah, I would say it’s the first weekend where it’s been such a consistent struggle the whole way through.”
“I think in 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. I obviously just need to understand why it’s been the case, and I’ve tried a fair few different things to 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 my lap time.”
Piastri is still ‘confident in the car’ despite ‘trying a lot’ both with the car and himself
With Lando Norris being P1 in qualifying and P2 today, Piastri has been trying to replicate the #1’s car set-ups. Despite this, the whole race weekend has been somewhat ‘underwhelming’ for the Australian.
Talking about this, the McLaren driver added:
“Yeah, we’ve tried a lot, both with the car and with me.”
“Some of the corners I would say are explainable, others haven’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 do you with much confidence.”
“I just need to understand why that was the case this weekend. But yeah, I’m confident in the car.”
As things stand, he is now sitting at P6 of the 2024 Drivers’ Standings, whilst Norris toppled Leclerc for P2.
For his next battle, Oscar Piastri will take on the Red Bull Ring with McLaren’s MCL38 car for the 2024 Austrian GP. The racing event will be the Round 11 of the 2024 F1 season, and is scheduled to take place between 28th to 30th June.
Image Credit: McLaren Racing Media Centre
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