Oscar Piastri believes McLaren ended qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix roughly where it belongs in the current Formula 1 pecking order after the team once again found itself chasing both Mercedes and Ferrari.
At the Shanghai International Circuit, McLaren’s drivers locked out the third row of the grid, with Piastri securing fifth place ahead of team-mate Lando Norris in sixth.
The result mirrored the team’s sprint race showing earlier in the day and reinforced the impression that, for now, the reigning Constructors’ champions remain just a fraction shy of the front-runners.
Piastri: ‘About where we belong’
Piastri admitted there may have been a little more time left on the table during the final Q3 run, but overall felt the result fairly reflected McLaren’s current performance level.
“I think so,” the Australian said when asked if fifth place was the most he could extract from the session.
“The last lap I did was not the greatest, so I think there was potentially a bit more in it, but just very difficult to get everything out of the car today.
“I’m reasonably happy with it – it’s about where we kind of belong. I felt like in Q3 we maybe got a little bit closer, but we’ve still got some work to do.”
Despite the gap to the front, Piastri believes Sunday’s race still offers opportunities — particularly if tyre behaviour again proves unpredictable, as it did during the sprint.
“Try and get a good start if I can – that’s probably the first thing, and then see what the tyres do,” he said.
“I think the tyres were a pretty big factor in the Sprint, but I think just car pace is going to be very important. We’ll see what our pace is like, and if we’ve got enough grip then maybe we can mix it with the guys at the front, but we’ll wait and see.”
Norris: ‘A step behind’
Norris shared a similar assessment after narrowly trailing his team-mate in the session. A small mistake on his first Q3 run may have cost him a slightly stronger grid slot.
“Both runs [in Q3] were pretty similar, I think,” said Norris. “I made a big mistake on my first lap in the final corner, which cost me maybe a tenth, and maybe a tenth is almost a position but it’s very close to the Ferraris.
“It’s tough because you think, could we have got another tenth and a half out of it or something? I think that was in it today, so [I] just didn’t quite hook it up but otherwise I think we’re probably where we deserve to be.
“I think the Ferraris are quicker and it will be tough to race against them tomorrow.”
Even so, Norris is not ruling out the possibility of making life difficult for the cars ahead if the race unfolds the right way.
“No idea on the start – it could be amazing, it could not be good, you never really know.
“A lot of our starts have been good, so touch wood it’s the same tomorrow. We’ll see how we can challenge the guys ahead, at least how we can put them under pressure, [and] see if they make any mistakes.
“But it’s clear that we’re a step behind, and therefore racing that kind of car is always going to be tricky, but you never know.”
For McLaren, based on qualifying, the pace is close – but not quite close enough. Sunday’s race will reveal whether strategy, tyres, or pressure can help bridge that gap.
Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying results
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