Oscar Piastri frustrated by ‘crap’ Spanish GP lap despite McLaren breakthrough

Oscar Piastri conceded that his final Spanish Grand Prix qualifying lap was “pretty crap” as he was forced to settle for row four on the grid.

McLaren teammate Lando Norris meanwhile went on to snatch pole position at the Madring. But, while the result was not what Piastri wanted, Spanish GP qualifying did serve as a fresh breakthrough, as once again, Piastri felt in a better place with the McLaren MCL40.

Oscar Piastri happier in McLaren MCL40 despite ‘crap’ lap

After going wheel-to-wheel with Norris at Monza, Piastri came into the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring looking to build fresh momentum.

Qualifying seventh, while Norris took pole, was not part of the plan.

“I think that was really just one of those sessions where you wish you could hit the reset button and have another go, rather than struggling with anything massively,” Piastri reflected with PlanetF1.com and others.

“It was just quite messy. First lap of Q1, I had to abort, and you just get yourself a bit out of sequence and out of the rhythm a bit. And at a track like this, it’s very easy to lose a lot of time. So that was that.

“Also my last lap in Q3, I’m not surprised it’s that far off, because it was pretty crap.

“So yeah, that’s how it goes sometimes, unfortunately.”

However, there was a major silver lining for the Melburnian.

“I think it’s been a bit of a better weekend like Monza,” Piastri confirmed, “in that I at least am happier with what the car’s doing, and today was simply just one of those sessions.”

Asked if he thought that the MCL40 was capable of pole at any stage, Piastri replied: “Probably not.

“I think if you did a good job, it felt like it could get higher than where we’d kind of been sitting.

“But I think to be on pole is clearly an impressive job.”

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Formula 1 enters new territory again on Sunday, as the first Grand Prix at the Madring is held.

It was mentioned to Piastri that overtaking was at a premium during the Formula 2 and Formula 3 races. Not ideal, considering Piastri is going to need to make up ground.

Of course, Formula 1 has the added element of electrical deployment when it comes to overtaking. Piastri was asked whether this could give drivers a shot at overtaking in more random places around the Madring.

“It gives you a couple of options, but I think overtaking will be very tough,” he conceded.

“I have seen in F3 and F2 that overtaking into Turn 5 is quite awkward, because it’s very easy to defend the inside line, and you can’t really get enough speed to fully clear them.

“But we’ll see if it’s the same for us.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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