Oscar Piastri ended Friday practice at the Mexican Grand Prix in twelfth position, appearing to struggle throughout both sessions. His comments after FP2, however, reflected a positive and calm attitude despite the difficulties faced.
The Australian driver seemed far from his usual form during the second session. After a solid FP1, where many expected him to be among the front-runners and he finished fourth, things went downhill in FP2. Oscar Piastri ended the session in twelfth place, nearly seven-tenths off the top. More than the result itself, it was the overall performance that raised some concerns.
Throughout both the qualifying simulation and race pace runs, Oscar Piastri appeared to lack pace compared to his teammate. In similar tyre conditions, he was losing around a second per lap. However, when he spoke to the media after FP2, the Australian did not seem worried.
His comments after FP2
When asked about the balance of his McLaren MCL39, Piastri said: “It was decent with low fuel, quite average overall. I’m not too surprised by the lap time. I tried a lot of different things today, and now we need to understand what worked and what didn’t.”
On how he felt inside the car, the McLaren driver added: “Overall, I felt reasonably comfortable. We’ll see what we can make use of tomorrow, and I’ll try to be more consistent.”
Asked about his rivalry with Max Verstappen and the lessons from Austin, Oscar Piastri explained: “We identified a few areas from Austin. It was definitely a messy weekend, but we found several small things that, when put together, make a big difference. We think we’ve understood quite well what went wrong.”
Finally, when questioned about the current performance comparison between Red Bull and McLaren, he replied confidently: “The level is similar. We’ll be close as always, but we think we have a good car to work with.”
Oscar Piastri appeared relaxed and confident, showing no signs of pressure despite the underwhelming result. As seen before, the Australian has often managed to close the gap as the weekend progresses. It remains to be seen how much ground he can recover during qualifying on Saturday.
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