Oscar Piastri has confirmed that McLaren’s investigation into his disappointing performance at the United States Grand Prix revealed nothing drastically wrong with his car.
Following a weekend that saw the Australian racer lack pace compared to his teammate Lando Norris, Piastri is confident that the issues he faced were tied to the specific demands of the Circuit of the Americas (CoTA).
Piastri’s challenging outing in Austin came as he consistently clocked times about three-tenths slower than Norris, culminating in a disappointing finish where both drivers retired from the sprint race due to an opening corner collision.
As the current leader of the F1 2025 championship by 14 points over Norris, and with reigning four-time world champion Max Verstappen trailing by 40 points after winning three of the last four races, Piastri is looking ahead to the upcoming Mexico City Grand Prix.
After the race in Austin, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella stated that the team carried out a thorough check of Piastri’s car in an attempt to understand the lack of pace.
In a Thursday press conference in Mexico, Piastri elaborated on the findings of the investigation, stating, “I haven’t asked them to change anything. I think there were some things that were maybe not as good as they could have been [in Austin], but nothing drastically wrong with the car.”
He further explained, “There were a few things in terms of how the weekend played out and how the race panned out that were different from our expectations. If we could do the weekend again, we’d probably do a few things a little bit differently, but we wouldn’t be changing anything major.”
Piastri pinpointed the circumstances of CoTA as a significant factor in his performance, describing it as a “messy weekend” that hampered his execution.
He expressed optimism that the issues encountered in Austin were specific to that track and did not anticipate them affecting his performance in Mexico.
“I’m hoping that this weekend will be a bit better,” he remarked.
The prevailing theory regarding Piastri’s struggles in Austin is that he may have driven too conservatively, particularly given the circuit’s unique demands.
The combination of tyre overheating from the stresses imposed in the esses and the challenging traction zones out of slow corners meant that drivers needed to adopt a more aggressive approach than initially thought.
Instead of cautiously preserving tyre life, Piastri was thought to have driven excessively conservatively, inadvertently contributing to a greater lap time deficit.
Stella suggested that Piastri’s cautious driving style may have played a role in his disappointing performance, indicating that there is room for growth in this area for the young driver.
Stella stated, “Oscar, in qualifying and in the race, seemed to have a couple of tenths that he was not able to fully realise and that possibly was available in the car.”
He added that the team would continue examining the car’s setup and Piastri’s driving techniques, noting, “We need to challenge the car and lean on the understeer, oversteer, locking. This is an area of his driving that he has an opportunity to improve.”
Stella remains optimistic that Piastri will learn from the data gathered during the race weekend and will quickly enhance his performance.
As the team prepares for the Mexico City Grand Prix, the focus will be on leveraging the insights gained from the Austin race to pull together a better performance moving forward.
image source from：planetf1
