In the span of four hours, the Shanghai weekend produced two official rankings. The top three from the sprint race and Grand Prix qualifying share only one name: Oscar Piastri, who finished second in the morning sprint and claimed pole position in the afternoon session. In another era of Formula 1, he would be seen as a promising 23-year-old with two seasons of experience. In today’s fast-paced environment, where verdicts and opinions have a daily life cycle, Oscar Piastri is viewed as a driver who needs to step up and dismantle Lando Norris.
Oscar is improving, as expected, and is getting closer to consistently challenging his teammate. In Melbourne, he paid a high price for a mere 86 milliseconds (the gap separating him from Norris in qualifying), but in the race, he didn’t experience the usual scenario where the other papaya-colored car gradually pulls away. Instead, he regained ground and latched onto Norris before an unfortunate turn of events—sudden rain—turned his race into an uphill battle.
A few days later in Shanghai, Oscar Piastri arrived with his usual composed attitude. Oscar isn’t one for celebrations (just a simple wave even after securing his first F1 pole), which may not make him the most charismatic figure. However, this trait gives him the advantage of remaining unaffected on tougher days—a huge benefit in Formula 1, where pressure is constant. He arrived in Shanghai with his characteristic calm, and so far, he has been McLaren’s benchmark, while Norris seems determined to make people rethink the praise he received last weekend. Today, once again, Lando made an error in the sprint race and a series of mistakes in qualifying, confirming that he is overall less solid than his teammate.
“I know it might sound strange since I took pole, but I agree with what Lando said,” Oscar Piastri explained. “Right now, our car isn’t that easy to handle in qualifying. During Q1 and Q2, I really struggled, then I found more momentum in Q3, though I still don’t fully understand why. But even if there are things to sort out, that’s fine—you can’t completely transform the car. It has its characteristics, and you have to learn to live with them, especially on a sprint weekend.”
These words were echoed by Andrea Stella. “The car’s behavior makes it difficult to fully exploit its potential at the limit,” confirmed McLaren’s team principal. “Both drivers are experiencing these issues, but I think it’s a bigger problem for Lando because of his driving style when he’s pushing on a qualifying lap. But there’s not much we can do—we just have to adapt.”
“I think our car was pole-worthy yesterday as well,” Oscar continued, “but the approach we took in sprint qualifying wasn’t ideal. Today, with slightly longer sessions, we were able to do two proper runs, and everything was more straightforward. But the pace in the car was about the same.”
In the sprint race, Oscar only had to yield to Lewis Hamilton, but his pursuit of Max Verstappen, whom he overtook with four laps to go, took a toll on his tire management. Not ideal, but tomorrow he will start from pole position. The plan is clear: to redeem Melbourne.
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