Entering the Bahrain Grand Prix, the McLaren Formula 1 team expected to aggressively challenge Mercedes and Ferrari at the front of the grid. Instead, the team suffered a massive reality check. After a failed opening-lap tyre strategy and a shocking lack of overall pace, Oscar Piastri barely salvaged a sixth-place finish at the Sepang International Circuit.
With McLaren currently sitting a massive 240 points behind the leading Mercedes-AMG Petronas in the Constructors' Championship, the pressure to find answers is mounting ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.
During Thursday's media sessions under the Marina Bay floodlights, Oscar Piastri was directly asked if the highly abrasive, crusty asphalt in Malaysia fundamentally ruined the aerodynamics of the MCL40. While the technical regulations introduced flatter vehicle floors to make the cars less sensitive to ride height changes, the Australian driver confirmed that surface grip remains a critical factor.
"Yeah, I mean, it's always difficult to know. I mean, especially with the previous generation of cars. Yes, the roughness or smoothness of the track made a pretty big difference," he explained to the press. "And it's still going to make a difference with this year's cars."
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
But he refused to blame the Sepang asphalt entirely for the team's massive 0.733-second average pace deficit to the frontrunners.
"I'm not sure that's the full reason why we've been a bit uncompetitive," Oscar Piastri admitted. "But definitely, I think we hoped we'd be a bit stronger in Malaysia than we were. So I think it's a number of different things."
Despite the overall struggle to match the race leaders, the Australian pointed out that the McLaren MCL40 is still incredibly fast when the engineers manage to nail the complex set-up parameters.
"At certain points in the race, we looked very quick," Oscar Piastri recalled. "You know, my second, Hard stint, I was the quick. And Lando Norris as well in his soft. We were more or less the quickest cars on the track at one point."
The fundamental problem facing the Woking-based squad is consistency.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
"So, it's kind of in line with the rest of the year. If you can get the car into the right window, it's very quick," Oscar Piastri noted. "But we've struggled to get it there for a lot of the last two weekends."
With the smooth street circuit of Singapore Grand Prix presenting a completely different engineering challenge, the Australian driver hopes the team can finally find its sweet spot without fighting the harsh asphalt.
"So hopefully we can make things a bit easier this weekend," Oscar Piastri concluded. "It's obviously a very different track, different surface. But yeah, I think the grip level in Malaysia definitely caught us out a little bit."
Source: Motorsport
