Oscar Piastri says he fought hard for fifth place in the Mexico City Grand Prix and limited the damage in the Drivers’ Championship, but he has to learn to drive his McLaren differently.
Lando Norris dominated in Mexico and won by more than 30 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc, who had started from pole position. Piastri, on the other hand, was more than half a second ahead of his teammate in qualifying, but improved from seventh on the grid to fifth. He says the most important outcome will be when he has addressed a number of areas that have helped get more out of the car.
“There was a lot of arguing,” Piastri told Sky Sports. “I was sitting right behind someone the entire race and I was suffering from bad air, so that was quite difficult.
“For me, the most important thing is that I try to learn the things I want to learn. [In qualifying] after the session it became clear that there were a few things I needed to change quite significantly about the way I rode. If I have made some progress with that I will be happy, but if your teammate wins the race then obviously fifth place is not that extravagant.”
Given McLaren’s lack of upgrades in the latter part of the season, Piastri admits it has been a challenge to understand why he has to move away from a driving style that has worked so well for so long this year.
“I think I have had to drive very differently in recent weeks. That was a bit strange to understand,” he said. “I’ve been driving exactly the same all year, but over the last few weekends the car, the tires or whatever has demanded a completely different way of driving. I just haven’t really started doing that. I’ve tried a few things to change it and once we analyze whether that’s been effective or not, hopefully we’ll see some progress.
“The car hasn’t changed for a while so it’s nothing to do with the car. Given the pace that has set itself in the last few races, Lando has clearly found it easier to respond to that and I haven’t.
“I think it’s important to remember that the way I rode for the remaining 19 races worked quite well. It’s about adding tools to the toolbox rather than reinventing myself.”
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