‘It’s just been a struggle’: Oscar Piastri endures one of his toughest weekends at the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix

From start to finish, Oscar Piastri was admittedly well off the pace in Spain. He finished seventh, more than 30 seconds behind his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, who again challenged at the front of the grid.

Oscar Piastri during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Spain. Picture: Peter Fox/Getty Images

Oscar Piastri revealed his Spanish Grand Prix struggles were unlike anything he’s faced in his F1 career to date.

The Australian finished seventh at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday while teammate Lando Norris pushed race-winner Max Verstappen to the chequered flag after starting from pole.

Piastri’s race was heavily impacted by a lack of single lap pace on Saturday, and while there were positives to take out of the race, he admits it was a new experience.

“I would say it’s the first weekend where it’s been such a consistent struggle,” Piastri revealed.

“In some weekends last year, the race was difficult but qualifying was not bad.

“This weekend, it’s just been a struggle the whole way through, even through practice. It’s just not been happening,” he added.

“Obviously just need to understand why it’s been the case; tried a fair few different things set up side.

“I’ve just not had much confidence in the car, which is really the first time I’ve had that in my F1 career.”

Though unable to match Norris in qualifying, which heavily influenced the outcome of his race, Piastri stopped short of branding the weekend the toughest he’s experienced in F1.

Piastri skids through the gravel during qualifying for Spain. Manaure Quintero / AFP

“I think some other weekends, especially in some of the other races last year, Sundays were tougher,” he reasoned.

“Here, the race, especially the second half, wasn’t too bad. I think it was just a general lack of pace.

“From a tyre management point of view, it was probably not a bad result, but when you don’t have the pace to begin with, it makes it very difficult.”

Piastri worked on car set-up and his own approach on track in an effort to get on top of the issue, though came away without a clear understanding of what was going wrong.

There are, however, indicators of areas to examine more closely now the weekend has concluded.

“Some hints and potential ideas,” he said when asked if he understood what happened to make the event so difficult.

“I think the magnitude of is … Yeah, doesn’t make 100 per cent sense at the moment.

“Just need to try and understand why it’s been such a big struggle this weekend from the first lap.

“Friday, it’s been difficult. It’s not really gotten much better through the weekend.

“We’ve tried a lot, both with the car and with myself,” he added.

“Some of the corners I would say are explainable, others haven’t.

“Some of the corners I felt I’ve driven them well have been worse than the corners where I know I’ve messed them up.

“When you’re having qualifying laps like that, it’s doesn’t fill you with much confidence.

“So, just need to understand why that was the case this weekend.”

Oscar Piastri during the Spanish Grand Prix. Picture: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

In the race itself, Piastri did move forward from ninth to seventh, with Pierre Gasly a big influence on his progress.

Piastri added another six points to McLaren’s constructors’ championship tally.

However, both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari enjoyed double-points-paying finishes too, meaning McLaren left Spain with a healthy 25 points, but having lost ground to the two teams ahead of it in the constructors’ championship.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo was happy with his performance in what he described as a “very, very strange” weekend for RB in Spain.

Daniel Ricciardo scooting around pit lane at the Spanish Grand Prix. Picture: GSI/Icon Sport via Getty Images

Ricciardo finished 15th, three places up from his lowly 18th grid spot, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 19th.

It was a lacklustre weekend for the Faenza operation as it introduced a notable upgrade package.

“From the beginning, from a competitiveness [perspective], we weren’t there,” Ricciardo acknowledged.

“It was a really, really strange weekend for us, to have dropped off so much.”

RB had finished in the points in the four races leading into Spain, and six of the last seven to sit sixth in the constructors’ championship.

With the upgrades on hand for the Spanish weekend, there were hopes of being able to challenge Aston Martin for fifth.

Instead, the squad locked out the penultimate row of the grid as both Ricciardo and Tsunoda struggled to understand the revised car.

Progress in the race itself was, therefore, a positive of sorts, though some way shy of where the team wants – and expects – to be.

“My race today, honestly, I felt good,” Ricciardo declared.

“I was happy with the race, happy with what I got out of it, but yeah, 15th is not something that we can be happy about.

“With the package we had this weekend, I honestly don’t think we could have done anything better.

“I don’t want to say that makes everything better, it doesn’t, but we need to move on.

“I’ve got plenty of notes and feedback from the race today to give to the team.”

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Originally published as ‘It’s just been a struggle’: Oscar Piastri endures one of his toughest weekends at the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix