Oscar Piastri qualified P7 at the F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP on Saturday. He admitted there was more time available in the final sector while acknowledging McLaren facing a stronger challenge than anticipated.
The Australian did not feel qualifying had completely slipped away. However, he noted the gap to pole-sitter George Russell was larger than what McLaren had seen across the rest of the weekend. They looked the nearest challenger to the Brit until qualifying.
“Not really, I don’t think. I think just the others were a bit more competitive and it’s very, very tight. The gap to Russell is a little bit bigger than what it has been through the weekend.”
Final sector held the key for Piastri at F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP
Despite the overall result, Piastri felt his lap was building well before something was left on the table in the final sector.
“There was a bit more there, I would say. I need to understand where I lost time in the final sector, because my lap was coming pretty good. Yes, there was more in it, but I think in these kind of conditions, it’s always a little bit the case.”
A tough race ahead
Looking ahead to the F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, Piastri expects a difficult afternoon. He believes McLaren carried enough pace to threaten the front row over one lap, but sees the race distance as a different challenge altogehter.
“I can’t wait to see. It’s going to be tough. We felt like maybe we could get close to Mercedes over one lap or certainly be able to challenge for the front row or top three. But for a race distance, you don’t really have anywhere to hide.”
Furthermore, he identified both Mercedes and Ferrari as strong threats. He noted that Ferrari looked particularly strong through the corners, despite struggling on the straights.
“I think Mercedes are going to be incredibly strong. Ferrari also look very good. They look very strong in all the corners, just suffering on the straights. So yes, I think they’re going to be tough to get past as well.”
“Astonishing” – Piastri reacts to Monaco penalty reversal for Gasly
Away from Barcelona, Piastri had strong words for the decision to overturn Pierre Gasly’s penalty from the previous race. Alpine successfully brought a Right of Review after the race, reinstating Gasly to third – but because Piastri served his own pit lane speeding penalty during the race, there was no mechanism to revise it.
That dropped him from fourth to fifth.
“I’m pretty mind-blown by the decision. Because how you can reverse a decision that was ultimately wrong, but when other people have been penalised for the same thing and served a penalty in the race, how you can then change one penalty, knowing that probably five or six other racers have been impacted by that, is astonishing.”
Piastri noted that Russell faced an even messier situation, having received a drive-through for failing to serve his penalty correctly during the race. He finished outside the points.
“I’ve obviously lost a position, but I can only imagine how George is feeling.”
He also raised a deeper concern about the precedent this sets going forward. “The precedent as it is you don’t serve the penalty, you take it to court, wait probably a few months to decide the race, and who the hell wants to go racing like that? Perplexed is the word I use.”
