Oscar Piastri will be starting the Mexico City Grand Prix from P13 on the grid, after a surprisingly bad performance during the qualifying session. The Australian driver has admitted that he has no idea what happened that led to his elimination in Q2 after being the lead McLaren in Q1.
Piastri was at a loss for words to explain the sudden loss of grip mid-session as he succumbed to a premature exit from the session. A bemused Piastri could only say, “I had no grip in Q2 for some reason,” to the media as he added, “I don’t really know what happened and what changed.”
Things went downhill for the No. 81 driver after he found himself on the cusp of P10 in Q2. With pressure mounting, he went out on new tires, hoping to continue his form from Q1. However, a mistake at Turn 7 forced him to abandon his first lap.
Piastri tried pushing for a better time once more, but wasn’t able to produce one worthy of breaking into the Top 10. Meanwhile, Lando Norris, who was the trailing McLaren in Q1, ended up topping Q2, leaving Piastri further confused over what went wrong.
Oscar Piastri Had a Few Tweaks Made to His Car
While there was no major reason Piastri could zero in on why the grip on his car went away, he subsequently revealed that a few minor tweaks were made to his car during Q2.
The balance that the Aussie had at the start of qualifying was “completely the opposite” of what he had in the final run of Q2. So, he doesn’t understand how it happened. The team made a couple of very small changes to the setup, but nothing that would serve as an explanation for the drastic drop in performance.
Leaving the qualifying session with more questions than answers, Piastri now aims to capitalize on the extended 800-plus meter run to Turn 1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
With overtaking being notoriously tough at the track, salvaging a decent points finish on Sunday won’t be an easy task, but it is something that Piastri needs, given McLaren and Red Bull are currently involved in a battle for P3 in the constructors’ championship.
Oscar Piastri Needs To Make Quick Work of the F1 Midfield
Heading into the 19th race of the season, both Red Bull and McLaren have the same tally of points, but the former is ahead on countback for having more P2 finishes in the season. While Piastri is far from confident that his team can match the performance of Red Bull, he needs to make sure that he’s extracting as much performance as he can out of the MCL40.
Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar will be starting the Mexico race from P5 and P7 respectively, while Norris will be the driver splitting them in P6. Should all three drivers finish where they start, Red Bull will earn 16 points on the day, while McLaren will earn eight.
This means that as the Mexican GP comes to a close, Red Bull will have an eight-point lead in the constructors’ championship over McLaren. As such, the onus falls on Piastri’s shoulders to rise through the ranks and look to outscore at least one of the two Red Bulls to ensure McLaren stay in the hunt for P3.
More F1 Reading
- ‘The Grip Disappears’: Andrea Stella Owns McLaren’s Mexico GP Qualifying Setback
- Lewis Hamilton Delivers ‘Millimetre Perfect’ Lap to Claim First Ferrari Pole at Mexican GP
- ‘I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes’: Max Verstappen Claims Lando Norris Incident Compromised His Pole Bid in Mexico City Qualifying
- Charles Leclerc Warns Mexican Grand Prix Order Will Be Set in First Few Corners
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‘The Grip Disappears’: Andrea Stella Owns McLaren’s Mexico GP Qualifying Setback
Lewis Hamilton Delivers ‘Millimetre Perfect’ Lap to Claim First Ferrari Pole at Mexican GP
‘I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes’: Max Verstappen Claims Lando Norris Incident Compromised His Pole Bid in Mexico City Qualifying
Charles Leclerc Warns Mexican Grand Prix Order Will Be Set in First Few Corners
