Oscar Piastri dismisses McLaren upgrade theory after huge Lando Norris gap

Oscar Piastri has admitted he has not felt “natural” in the McLaren car all weekend after finishing 10th in Saturday’s qualifying session.

While his team-mate put it on pole, Piastri was made to lament a sector three mistake that ruined his flying lap but even without that, the Australian was not confident he would finish in the top five.

Oscar Piastri admits ‘not natural’ feeling in Spain quali

Piastri was beaten by his team-mate for the seventh time this season and after the session said the car did not feel “natural” for him all weekend.

“It wasn’t looking amazing,” he told media including PlanetF1.com of his lap before his off. “It certainly wasn’t going to be pole.

“I don’t feel like I threw away that much of a result. Honestly, I think it would have been maybe P7 or P8 at best. So I don’t feel like I’ve made a mistake that’s caused a big result.

“Just not had the pace which is obviously not ideal. But I just need to understand why that’s been the case. It’s just not been very natural all weekend.

“In the last four or five races, from the first session of practice, I’ve been able to be comfortable with the car and then push on from there and this weekend it’s just not been coming. Today it’s just not clicked for some reason.”

Asked by PlanetF1.com whether the unnatural feeling was a result of upgrades place on the car, Piastri denied that was the case and conceded he was unsure why he had such difficulty.

“Since we put the upgrades on, half of them in Miami and then the full set at Imola, it’s been really good to drive and at Imola in particular felt very, very comfy from lap one and the car’s not changed since then.

“This weekend, for whatever reason, has been more difficult so nothing to do with the upgrades just yet not clicked.”

More reaction from Saturday in quali

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Red Bull advantage ‘completely gone’ in Max Verstappen’s ‘not good enough’ verdict

Earlier in the day, McLaren’s hospitality unit broke out in a fire that sent one of their team personnel to hospital (later discharged) but Piastri said it did not disturb his preparation.

“Honestly, not really a distraction,” he said. “I was in the motorhome and had to leave but they were able to set us up with a room elsewhere and everything else has run smoothly.

“Obviously not ideal but just happy that everyone is okay, apart from that it’s not been a distraction.”

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