Piastri admits "it has been challenging" for McLaren in China
F1 News
Oscar Piastri managed to out-qualify his teammate, Lando Norris, in sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix, but admits that "it's been challenging" for his team, perhaps seen as a bit of a surprise after dominant at the Australian Grand Prix last time out.
Norris dominated proceedings in Melbourne to open up the 2025 Formula 1 season, showing that McLaren would be the team to beat throughout the season. Piastri would have finished right behind the Brit had it not been for a mistake after the second safety car restart, sliding off the track to drop from P2 down to P9 in front of his home fans.
In Shanghai, it looked like McLaren would be the team to beat once again, as Norris put five-tenths between himself and the rest of the grid in the only free practice session of the weekend to start the sprint weekend. However, when it came to qualifying, neither McLaren could really find the pace that had been shown. Piastri found a little bit more to take P3, while Norris was only able to set the sixth fastest time of the SQ3 session.
Piastri debriefs on a "tough" final session for McLaren
Speaking in the McLaren press release after the Friday in China, Piastri knows the positives were there, but it is not all 100% perfect for the papaya-coloured team: "Overall, a positive first day on track in China. SQ1 and SQ2 felt good, we just couldn’t get the pace out of the car in SQ3. It's been challenging at times adapting to the track’s new surface, the grip's been a lot better than last season which is nice, but it's very peaky.
"It was tough to keep on top of the car at times, but the team did a good job of taming it for Sprint Quali. The pace in the car is still very strong and I'm confident I can fight for a higher finish from third in tomorrow’s Sprint,” concluded the Australian.
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