Piastri reveals crucial Qatar factor behind McLaren setback
Oscar Piastri has revealed that a difference in the grip levels at the Lusail International Circuit took away some of McLaren’s strengths in the Qatar Grand Prix.
McLaren failed to seal the F1 constructors’ title in Qatar, with the crown to be decided in the Abu Dhabi season finale.
After claiming a one-two in the sprint race McLaren looked in a position to win the title, only for Lando Norris’ 10-second stop/go penalty to bring Ferrari back into real contention.
Whilst Piastri did finish third in Qatar, Ferrari claimed second and sixth to move 21 points behind the Woking-based team.
It was a disappointing outcome for McLaren, who had expected to be the strongest outfit; however, a difference in the grip levels compared to last season worked against the MCL38.
“Yes and no,” said Piastri, when assessing if he expected the team to be stronger. “I think the track was very different to last year in terms of the grip level.
“I think our car in certain conditions is quite different to last year as well, and I feel like some of our strengths that we had last year are not really strengths anymore because everybody else has caught up to us.
“I feel like some of our weaknesses are not really our weaknesses either, and I feel like it’s a much more well-rounded car. But I think also maybe the grip level took away some of our strengths that we’ve had in the past here.
“I always expected it to be tight. I didn’t expect it to be necessarily as, you know… I think apart from Max last year, we were very competitive in Qatar. But I always thought it was going to be pretty tough between the top four teams.”
Leclerc loss
Norris’ costly penalty for failing to slow down under double-waved yellow flags was not McLaren’s only setback, as Piastri lost a crucial position to Charles Leclerc.
Piastri was ahead of the Ferrari driver, but lost the position after pitting a lap prior to a safety car being triggered.
Leclerc pitted during the safety car period, resulting in less time lost and a position gained on Piastri. This resulted in the Monegasque finishing in second, and Piastri in third.
Piastri concedes that this cost him second, but that McLaren has gotten lucky in previous rounds.
“I mean, yes, but that’s how racing goes sometimes, unfortunately,” added Piastri. “Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t.
“I feel like we’ve had that happen quite a few times this year, but we’ve had our fair share of luck as well.
“So I think the pace was decent, just not quite strong enough in the right places on the track, which made trying to get close pretty tough. Because I think once I had some clean air, the pace was strong.
“Fighting for the win, given where I started and how the first part of the race panned out was always going to be a challenge, but I’m pretty happy to end up on the podium.”
