Oscar Piastri finishes the qualifying session for the main race in China in fifth place. According to the driver, the top-five starting position is representative of McLaren’s current form, as the team is still struggling to find grip, among other things. Piastri therefore does not think a fight with Mercedes is possible during the Grand Prix on Sunday, although McLaren could turn the tide with the upgrades announced by team principal Andrea Stella: ‘Hopefully they are like the 2023 upgrades’, says Piastri.
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Oscar Piastri qualified in China in exactly the same spot as in Australia: five. According to the Australian, McLaren knows better how to handle energy management a week after the season opener, but it is still a matter of stringing his best sector times together. “I think if you add up my best sectors, we are probably close to the Ferraris,” the Australian tells the media after qualifying. “But optimizing the power unit with how tricky the tires are in these conditions, and the wind – I’m pretty sure everyone has a similar story.”
Piastri is therefore of the opinion that McLaren qualified in a ‘representative’ spot. “Hopefully we have improved a bit for tomorrow’s race compared to the sprint. We have gotten a bit closer to Mercedes, but we are still half a second behind, so we are not really in the fight at the moment. We need to find some more grip. I think that’s the most important thing.”
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‘Hopefully the same upgrades as in 2023’
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella already hinted that upgrades for the MCL40 are on the way. “Hopefully we get upgrades similar to those of 2023!” jokes Piastri. “But that’s hard to say at the moment.” The British racing team went from a backmarker team to a title contender in 2023 through a series of upgrades. At the moment, McLaren is still struggling to optimize the current package. “I feel a bit like I leave every qualifying session with the idea that we have used the power unit’s capability well, and then we come back and find that there is a significant chunk of time that we overlooked,” says Piastri.
Still, the Australian does not expect a fight with Mercedes and Ferrari during the main event on Sunday. “I would be a bit surprised if we can keep up with them. Hopefully we have improved some since the sprint. But I certainly think that with Antonelli just about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in that sprint race, and yet he finished ahead of me,” Piastri says gloomily. “Especially on a track like this: if you don’t have enough speed, you can’t make up that time.”
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