Oscar Piastri left searching for answers after surprise Barcelona struggle

Oscar Piastri admitted his surprise at why he was a long way off the pace of Lando Norris in Barcelona, wanting his performance to be “a lot stronger.”

While the Australian still brought home fifth place at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix – aided by late retirements for Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc – more of a concern will have been finishing the race 35 seconds behind his teammate.

Oscar Piastri surprised by Barcelona GP struggles

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google for news you can trust.

A hot Snuday in the Basque region saw several drivers struggle to maintain tyre grip, with Lewis Hamilton’s three-stop strategy proving to be the correct one as he crossed the line for his first victory as a Ferrari driver.

While Norris was able to hold onto the lead battle for long periods, the same could not be said for Piastri, whose battles came in the middle portion of the top 10.

McLaren’s lack of grip compared to Ferrari, for example, was exemplified when Charles Leclerc was able to sweep around the outside of Piastri in the early part of the race at the tyre-killing Turn 3 right-hander.

Acknowledging his 10-point haul was still sturdy enough, work will be ongoing to establish why he was not on the pace of those in similar machinery.

Asked if he understood where his gap to the front came from, Piastri replied to PlanetF1.com and others: “No, not really.

“I was trying a lot of different things and running into a lot of different problems, so I think just struggling a lot with grip, tyre life, obviously.

“I don’t have any answers at the moment. I’m sure there will be some answers later, but it was a surprise to struggle so much.

“There were a few laps here and there that felt a little bit better, but that normally came at a price a few laps later – so it was just not an easy afternoon at all.

“All I can hope is that we learn why it was so difficult. Obviously, the points we gained today were still reasonable, but I obviously wanted the performance to be a lot stronger.”

More from the Barcelona GP

Lewis Hamilton wins first Ferrari Grand Prix after VSC strategy masterclass in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton achieves Ferrari ‘impossible dream’ with emotional Barcelona GP breakthrough

Norris ended the race in third place in what was a rare all-British podium on Sunday, with three drivers from the UK having taken the top three places for the first time since the 1968 season.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read next: Who is Carlo Santi? Meet Lewis Hamilton’s temporary Ferrari race engineer