Oscar Piastri’s 2026 F1 Chinese GP qualifying session ended in P5 at the Shanghai International Circuit. The Australian set a best lap of 1:32.550, finishing 0.486 seconds behind pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli. Speaking after the session in the print media pen, Piastri acknowledged some operational improvement from McLaren. However, he admitted the car still lacked the grip needed to fight at the front.
Imperfect lap but representative result for Piastri
A big moment at Turn 1 disrupted Piastri’s final lap in Chinese GP qualifying. When asked whether he could have found more time, he acknowledged the error but was measured in his response.
“Yeah, my last lap had a pretty big moment in turn one, and yeah, I mean it’s always easy to say you can make up the time, and I think if you put my best sectors together, then it’s probably in the mix with the Ferraris,” he stated.
He was quick to point out that conditions, the new regs and the tyres made a perfect lap difficult for everyone out on track.
“But with optimising the power unit, with how tricky the tyres are in these conditions, the wind, I’m pretty sure everyone’s got a similar story,” he added.
Despite the imperfect lap, Piastri felt P5 was a fair reflection of McLaren’s current level. He also took some encouragement heading into Sunday’s race.
“So, I think where we’ve ended up is pretty representative, and hopefully we’ve improved a little bit for the race tomorrow, compared to the Sprint.”
Grip remains McLaren’s biggest problem after 2026 F1 Chinese GP qualifying
Piastri’s 2026 F1 Chinese GP qualifying result exposed a clear weakness for McLaren. When asked how close the team had gotten to the frontrunners compared to Melbourne, progress had been made, but it was nowhere near enough.
“I mean, I think compared to Melbourne, I think Melbourne we should have been quite a lot closer than we were in qualifying.”
He pointed to Norris’ result as the most accurate picture of where McLaren currently sits in the current F1 pecking order.
“The race, obviously, I’ll never know, but I think the picture from Lando is pretty representative, and I think what we’ve seen this weekend is also pretty representative. We’ve got a little bit closer, but we’re still half a second off, so it’s not like we’re even really in the mix at the moment.”
Oscar Piastri then identified the team’s central problem in plain terms. Understanding the PU gains better can help, but they cannot compensate for the underlying deficit as they lack the downforce required.
“So, we’ve got some grip to find, I think, that seems to be the biggest thing. I think, you know, it’s been a positive. I think we’ve gotten more on top of the things we want from the power unit, how to implement them, and just doing a better job on that side. But, unfortunately, you can’t make up for grip you don’t have,” he stated.
Piastri waiting on upgrades to close the qualifying gap
McLaren’s 2026 F1 Chinese GP qualifying session showed they will not close the gap without significant upgrades.
When asked whether those upgrades could change McLaren’s situation, Piastri remained cautious. As the team has shown in 2023 and 2024, they are capable of huge development.
Knowing what difference they would make was too early to say: “We’ll wait and see. Hopefully, we’ve got some 2023-spec upgrades. It’s hard to say at the moment.”
He admitted that post-session data has consistently revealed more time was available than expected after leaving the car. Saturday in Shanghai felt like a step forward on that front.
“I kind of feel like I leave every qualifying session at the moment thinking that we’ve done a pretty good job of maximising the power unit, and then we get back and find there’s a chunk of time that we didn’t realise. I think today, probably, we have done a better job of that, I say that everyone’s having the same kind of issues,” he stated.
He added that running two qualifying sessions on the same weekend has benefited the whole F1 field. The bottom line, however, remained unchanged.
“So, I think things are probably evening out a little bit from that side of things. I think having two qualifying sessions on the same weekend helps a lot for everybody with that. But, yeah, we obviously need some pretty big steps to be in the mix,” he concluded.
Piastri cautious about race pace for the 2026 F1 Chinese GP
Piastri’s Chinese GP qualifying result left little doubt about the challenge ahead on Sunday. When asked whether McLaren could match the frontrunners, keeping pace with the leaders would come as a surprise, he admitted.
“I would be a bit surprised if we can match them. Hopefully, we can improve things from the Sprint, but I think, certainly, with Antonelli, I think he had pretty much everything that could go wrong in that race, and he still finished ahead of me.”
Antonelli’s Sprint result served as the clearest evidence of the gap McLaren still needs to close. Piastri drew a straightforward conclusion from it.
“So, I think, especially on a track like this, if you don’t have the car speeds, you don’t make up the time.”
Deployment quirks not going away despite improvement in Chinese GP qualifying
Oscar Piastri’s F1 Chinese GP qualifying experience felt more manageable than Melbourne, but the new regulations continue to throw up unusual challenges. When asked whether he found more enjoyment from the session, he said things felt closer to normal.
“I think here’s a little bit more normal. The super clipping is nowhere near as extreme as Melbourne, but some of the quirks still exist.”
He explained that the grip step from medium to soft tyres caught many drivers out on Friday. Going faster through the corners drained battery before the straights and cost significant lap time overall.
“Yesterday, I think a lot of people got caught out by, especially, the big stepping grip from the medium to the soft, and I think everyone went quicker through the corners, didn’t have enough battery for the straight, and lost all that time trying to get through the straight, plus more, which is obviously a learning process, but it’s a bit of a painful learning process,” he stated.
Piastri acknowledged Shanghai was an improvement on Melbourne. He did not expect the quirks that remain to disappear anytime soon, though.
“It has been better here. I think Melbourne was probably going to be as bad as it gets, but some of the quirks I don’t think are going away.”
Oscar Piastri expects less variability in race after F1 Chinese GP qualifying
When asked whether energy management would restrict overtaking on Sunday, Piastri said the opening laps could still offer some action. After that, he expected a far more constrained race than what was seen in Melbourne.
“I think the first lap or two, maybe there’s still a chance for action. Honestly, at this point, no one really knows what to expect, because you go into everything expecting one thing and then a different thing happens, but I think here, everyone is kind of more constrained to a very similar level of deployment.”
He explained that Melbourne gave drivers far more freedom to experiment with deployment strategies due to so many long straights. Shanghai offers far fewer options, and executing them well demands complete focus from the whole team.
“Melbourne, you could do completely different things, lap-to-lap, driver-to-driver, team-to-team, if you wanted to, whereas here, you’re kind of more boxed in. There’s still some things you can play with, but playing with them is not very easy, and you’ve got to be very switched on, the whole team has to be very switched on about how you implement that,” he stated.
Piastri’s 2026 F1 Chinese GP qualifying result of P5 sets up an interesting Sunday. He expects the field to produce fewer surprises than Melbourne, with everyone better prepared after learning from the Sprint.
“We’ll wait and see, but I think clearly everyone will have learned from the Sprint, and I think on a track like this, where we learn more, I think everyone is going to have less variability,” he concluded.
Oscar Piastri’s P5 result gives McLaren a platform to work from on Sunday at the 2026 F1 Chinese GP. The McLaren driver will look to capitalise on any opportunities that arise while the team continues its search for the grip it needs to genuinely challenge at the front.
