Oscar Piastri has conceded that it is “concerning” that both McLaren drivers were out-qualified by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Australian qualified eighth on the grid, some seven-tenths of a second behind the pole time that was set by Mercedes’ George Russell.
Piastri also lagged a sizeable four-tenths adrift of Gasly’s time, which took the Frenchmen to an unexpected third place, behind Russell and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Piastri was asked if it was concerning that both Ferrari drivers of Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who will line up in fourth – were ahead of him and team-mate Lando Norris.
“Yeah, I’d say it’s more concerning to have an Alpine in front of us all to be honest,” he said.
“Clearly Gasly has been quick the last few weekends now, and I think that’s like three or four weekends in a row where he’s been very quick in quali.
“I think we expected Ferrari to be quick, I think we didn’t expect Mercedes to be so quick, but I think that’s been a surprise for us but it sounds like it’s been a surprise for them too.
“But I’m not too concerned, it’s a long race tomorrow, a lot can happen as we saw last year so there’ll be plenty of opportunities.”
McLaren were ‘nowhere’ in Las Vegas qualifying
Piastri conceded that extracting significant single lap pace from his car “wasn’t the easiest,” adding that “we were nowhere” in Q3.
“I think until Q3, we’ve been pretty happy with how we’ve been relative to Ferrari,” he said.
“It’s just we didn’t find that extra step but yes, this is probably the track we expect them to be the quickest on.
“But we can’t just take for granted, we can’t just say this will be our worse and the next two will be much better for us because if they’re not, then that’s not good news.”
Despite the obvious frustration, Piastri said he was “optimistic” about the prospects of McLaren being stronger in race trim, citing that it “feels reasonable”.
“Just low grip, which is the same for everybody but it’s just not as quick as some of our competitors this weekend,” he concluded.
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