Oscar Piastri felt like he had “nothing to lose” during Saturday’s Formula 1 qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix, claiming his McLaren car hasn’t been “natural all weekend.”
Piastri’s F1 McLaren team-mate Lando Norris romped away to pole position but it was an altogether different affair for the Australian.
The sophomore driver’s first Q3 push-lap was deleted due to track limits and he went off and into the gravel on the exit of Turn 12.
Still, Piastri felt that there wasn’t a strong result on the cards before his off as he’s been struggling with the balance of his McLaren all weekend.
“I don’t feel like I throw away that much of a result, honestly, I think it would have been maybe P7 or P8, at best,” said Piastri.
“So I don’t feel like I’ve made a mistake that’s cost a big results, just not had the pace.
“Which, yeah, is obviously not ideal. But yeah, just need to understand why that’s been the case, it’s been not… it’s just not been very natural all weekend.
“I think the last four or five races, from the first lap of practice I’ve been able to be comfortable with the car and then push on from there – and this weekend it’s just not been coming.”
Piastri was unsure what the root cause of his troubles were and was adamant that since McLaren started piling siginificant upgrades on its 2024 Formula 1 challenger that he’s been comfortable with the car.
However, for an as yet unknown reason, his balance with the MCL38 has been off in Barcelona.
Upgrades then, are not at the root of the problem.
“The car’s not changed since [Imola],” said Piastri.
“And this weekend, for whatever reason it’s just been more difficult so nothing to do with the upgrades.”
The net result of Piastri’s troubles was his off in the Q3 top-10 shootout that resigned him to 10th place on Sunday’s grid.
“My lap wasn’t going to be anything amazing at that point,” the Australian said.
“So I knew I didn’t really have anything to lose, and just got a massive push of understeer.
“I don’t know if I tried to carry a bit too much speed or had a gust of wind or whatever but yeah just not really been a very predictable day in terms of what the car’s going to do.”
