Oscar Piastri can’t explain ‘mystery' qualifying struggles
Oscar Piastri was at a loss to explain his lack of pace in qualifying in Mexico City.
Oscar Piastri could not explain his lack of pace in qualifying at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The championship leader, who has been off the pace all weekend, qualified eighth and 0.588 seconds behind McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris, who romped to pole position.
Piastri, who is 14 points ahead of Norris with five races remaining, will start seventh due to Carlos Sainz being hit with a five-place grid penalty.
“There’s just no pace which is a bit of a mystery,” Piastri admitted.
“It’s been more or less the same gap all weekend, so we’ll have a look at where it was going wrong. Obviously it’s a bit frustrating.
“Not a huge amount has changed around how I’m feeling in the car. It’s just this weekend and last weekend it’s felt like the pace hasn’t come.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure why yet, so we’ll do some digging."
Piastri will line up directly behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who goes from fifth and is 40 points behind the Australian.
“I’ll try my best [in the long run to Turn One]. That’s going to be an opportunity to make some progress forwards," Piastri added.
“We’ll see what I can do.”
McLaren to review Piastri’s struggles
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said Piastri lost time to Norris at every corner of the lap.
"There's a bit to review on Oscar's side,” Stella told Sky Sports F1.
"It's more difficult for him to use the car when the conditions are sliding, like it was also in Austin. It's something we need to review and improve for tomorrow.
"Oscar, in relation to Lando, loses a few milliseconds pretty much in every corner, so it's about him getting the right feeling in these conditions and pushing that little bit more in every single corner.
"That is difficult to push that little bit more without having an issue.
"I think the race pace is strong for both drivers. I'm sure Oscar will be able to recover some positions.”
Sky Sports F1 pundit Jacques Villeneuve felt Piastri's comments about his lack of pace were "odd".
"When you are slower than your team-mate by that amount, you try to push a little harder, you get in trouble, you lock wheels and you start to figure out issues here and there," the 1997 world champion said.
"But he seemed to be happy with how the car was feeling and that's really strange."
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