Oscar Piastri has urged McLaren to understand the reasons behind its MCL38 car retaining a trend of “up and down” performances to date in the 2024 Formula 1 season.
The Woking-based squad has sustained a strong start to the campaign, landing two podiums through Lando Norris to sit in third place in the Constructors’ Championship.
But McLaren’s overall form has been inconsistent with the team underperforming at Suzuka but landing its best result in China when it was braced for “damage limitation”.
Piastri, who has registered a best placing of fourth in the first five rounds, believes its vital McLaren addresses that to ensure it can battle with Ferrari for second position.
“We need to understand why we’re quick on certain days and not quick on other days,” Piastri told Autosport.
“I think we’ve got some good ideas, but we just need to make sure our reasons that we think why we’re good are actually why.
“We thought we would struggle quite a lot here [in China]. So it’s very encouraging that Lando’s able to finish second on a track we thought we’d struggle at.
“It’s exciting for what’s to come in the future, and with some new parts coming to the car, it’s encouraging signs.
“Clearly, we excel on some days and we struggle more on others, and it doesn’t really seem to be related to the track layout at the moment.”
“Somewhere like Japan, where we thought we would be quite strong, honestly has probably been our weakest race this year along with Bahrain – and here [In China] where we thought would be our weakest, has probably been our strongest. So we need to understand why a bit more.”
The Australian admits it’s “a bit frustrating” to endure such fluctuations, but states that attaining a positive result amid low expectations also provides encouragement.
“I think it’s obviously a little bit frustrating being so up and down,” he added.
“I think being up when you expect to be down is very encouraging so we just need to fully understand why.
“And, if we can do that, then we’ll make some inroads into what we need to focus on.”
McLaren is set to debut a substantial upgrade package at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, which Team Principal Andrea Stella has revealed should be a “decent step”.
