Oscar Piastri admitted that he felt forced to adopt a driving style “not particularly natural” to him, which saw him wrestle his McLaren to fifth in the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.
The Australian, who started seventh, was unable to make a great deal of headway at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, ultimately making up two places.
In contrast, team-mate Lando Norris coasted to a dominant victory, to hold take the lead in the Drivers’ Championship, 189 days since losing it to Piastri in Saudi Arabia earlier in the season.
Piastri may have been able to have completed a further damage limitation job, had it not been for a very late Virtual Safety Car that nullified his chances of passing Oliver Bearman on the last lap.
Speaking after the race, Piastri told media including Motorsport Week that he wasn’t entirely sure how competitive his MCL39 was in comparison to Norris’, given he, by definition of his starting place, was unable to free himself into clearer air.
“It’s difficult to say, ultimately. I think I certainly tried a lot of different things,” he said.
“I felt like I stared at the back of a lot of cars as well, so it was difficult to get a read on whether what I was changing in my driving was working that well or not.
“But ultimately, we’ll have to analyse it and see if it looks good in terms of the numbers and stuff, because from a feeling point of view, when you’re behind that many cars, it’s very difficult to tell.”
A change in driving style ‘a learning experience’ – Piastri
Piastri has spent much of the season making the most of the MCL39 package, with Norris occasionally finding it hard to extract the best from it, often citing a difference in driving styles.
But the feeling has very much flip-flopped from the US GP, with Piastri now finding it hard to get the most from it, watching Norris up the road chipping into his title lead, and taking it over.
“It’s certainly been a learning experience, that’s for sure, I think,” Piastri admitted of his recent struggles.
“For some reason the last couple of weekends has required a very different way of driving, and what’s worked well for me in the last 19 races has needed something very different the last couple of weekends, and trying to wrap my head around why has been a bit of a struggle.
“But ultimately, today was about trying to experiment with some of those things, because I would agree, I think driving the way I’ve had to drive these last couple of weekends is not particularly natural for me, so it’s been about trying to exploit that as much as I can.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris reacts to crowd boos after F1 Mexico GP win
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