Oscar Piastri endured a frustrating qualifying session at the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix, with the McLaren driver eliminated in Q2 after struggling to find grip on a fresh set of tyres. The Australian will start Sunday’s race from 13th position, a disappointing outcome after showing promising pace during the opening stage of qualifying.
The result came as a surprise given McLaren’s expectations and Piastri’s encouraging performance in Q1. However, the Australian explained that his new tyres delivered almost no improvement during his final attempt, leaving him unable to find the grip required to set a faster lap and progress into Q3.
Oscar Piastri explains Mexico GP Q2 elimination and tyre grip problems
Oscar Piastri had appeared capable of producing a strong result during the early stages of qualifying at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. His pace in Q1 suggested that reaching the final qualifying segment should have been achievable, but the situation changed when he switched to a fresh set of tyres.
Rather than providing the expected improvement in lap time, the new rubber offered little additional performance. The unexpected lack of grip prevented the McLaren driver from improving sufficiently to escape elimination in Q2.
“I think we had very good pace in Q1 and that it was possible to do well. The new tyres brought very little improvement, and that was the main problem,” Piastri explained.
“Under normal circumstances, we should have made it through without any particular difficulty. I don’t know what changed with that new set of tyres, but I had absolutely no grip.”
The Australian was unable to explain why the fresh tyres behaved so differently from what he had expected. With no significant improvement available on his final run, he was left outside the top ten and facing a difficult starting position for the Grand Prix.
The setback adds to McLaren’s recent difficulties, following a challenging United States Grand Prix in which Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri discussed the team’s pace problems.
McLaren driver warns overtaking could be difficult at Mexico City GP
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Oscar Piastri acknowledged that recovering from 13th on the grid could prove particularly challenging. The Australian is concerned about the difficulty of overtaking at the Mexican circuit, especially with the characteristics of the current generation of Formula 1 cars.
He also highlighted a specific issue involving straight-line speed management, which could make passing other drivers more complicated than expected.
“It’s going to be complicated in the race. Overtaking is difficult here, especially with this generation of cars. On the straights, everyone is limited by the speed limiter, so it could be a slightly unusual situation.”
These concerns leave Piastri facing an uncertain race from the seventh row of the grid. Although he demonstrated competitive pace earlier in qualifying, the Australian will need to recover positions on a circuit where he expects overtaking opportunities to be limited.
Oscar Piastri faces Mexico GP recovery after disappointing qualifying result
For Oscar Piastri, the immediate challenge is to turn an unexpectedly poor qualifying result into a stronger race performance. Starting 13th means the McLaren driver has considerable ground to recover, while his concerns about overtaking suggest that making progress through the field may not be straightforward.
The lack of improvement from his fresh tyres remains the central question following qualifying. Despite the encouraging pace shown in Q1, Piastri was unable to reproduce that competitiveness when it mattered most, leaving him with a difficult task ahead of Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix.
McLaren’s latest qualifying disappointment also follows a challenging period for the team, with its recent points-scoring difficulties allowing Red Bull to draw level.
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- 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix schedule, session start times and TV coverage
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