Piastri Struggles with McLaren Balance in Spanish GP Qualifying

Oscar Piastri faced difficulties during the final qualifying session on Saturday for the Spanish Grand Prix. Piastri expressed that his McLaren car has not felt natural throughout the entire weekend. While his teammate, Lando Norris, secured the pole position, Piastri had a different experience. His first fast lap in Q3 was excluded due to track limits, and he ended up going off track and into the gravel at Turn 12. Despite this setback, Piastri believed that a good result was unlikely even before his mistake, as he has been struggling with the balance of his McLaren throughout the weekend. He did not feel that he made a major error that cost him a significant result, but rather that the necessary pace was lacking. Piastri acknowledged that the situation was far from ideal and emphasized the need to understand the reasons behind his difficulties, as it has not felt natural to him throughout the weekend. He mentioned that in previous races, he was comfortable with the car from the first practice lap and could build upon that, but this weekend has been different. Piastri was uncertain about the root cause of his problems and clarified that the recent updates to the McLaren Formula 1 car were not to blame. Despite these challenges, Piastri managed to secure tenth place on the grid for Sunday’s race, although he acknowledged that his lap would not be exceptional at that moment. He described the day as unpredictable in terms of how the car would behave, with a sudden increase in understeer during his qualifying lap. He speculated that it could have been due to carrying too much speed or a gust of wind.