Oscar Piastri hopes to never do one thing ‘again’ after Mexico City Grand Prix woes

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Oscar Piastri admits he must ‘do a better job’ after a disappointing time at the Mexico City Grand Prix, with the McLaren driver hopeful of never doing one thing again in F1.

The 23-year-old is now approaching the conclusion of his sophomore season in the pinnacle of motorsport. But while Piastri became a Grand Prix winner for the first time this July in the Hungarian GP and won again in Azerbaijan, results have started to dip since winning in Baku.

Piastri endured his troubles in the Singapore GP en route to a third-place finish as teammate Lando Norris won ahead of title rival Max Verstappen. The McLaren star has not got back on a podium since, with P5 in the US Grand Prix and then a frustrating P8 in the Mexico City GP.

Oscar Piastri hopes to ‘never’ qualify as badly again after a tough Mexico City GP

Qualifying has been the thorn in Piastri’s side with the Australian only securing P5 in Q3 for the Singapore GP and the US Grand Prix, before falling to P17 with a Q1 exit in Mexico City. The Melbourne native even qualified in P16 for the F1 Sprint at the Circuit of the Americas.

Piastri provisionally posted the seventh-fastest time in SQ1 at COTA but lost his best lap for exceeding track limits at Turn 19. Another mistake also cost the McLaren racer in qualifying for the Mexico City GP as Piastri ran wide at Turn 12, losing his lap by exceeding track limits.

The error ensured even if the lap proved valid, Piastri would not have reached Q2 as he lost time bottoming out on the kerb. Sunday would see a slightly stronger showing, however, as he climbed through the grid to finish the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez in P8.

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Piastri admits he must ‘do a better job’ in qualifying as his mistake meant the McLaren pilot faced a tougher Mexico City GP than his race needed to be. He also hopes to never start so far down the grid as it took the nine-time podium finisher too long to overtake slower cars.

“You kind of need to wait for everything to spread out a bit,” Piastri told Auto Action (Issue 1898, p20). “Once it did spread out, then I was able to come through reasonably quickly.

“It’s just, you’re kind of at the mercy of what the cars ahead of you do. Hopefully, the tyres we tested in FP2 make that a bit easier next year. But hopefully, I don’t have to start that far back again and do a better job.”

McLaren need Oscar Piastri to ‘do a better job’ in qualifying from the Sao Paulo GP

Like Piastri does, McLaren will hope their driver can ‘do a better job’ in qualifying starting at this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The Woking natives need the Australian to deliver with Ferrari now chasing McLaren down in the constructors’ championship after passing Red Bull.

With Verstappen’s two illegal moves on Norris in the Mexico City GP delaying the Briton and helping Ferrari to win with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc taking third, the Scuderia moved to within 29 points of McLaren in the constructors’ standings and even 25 ahead of Red Bull.

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If Piastri fails to deliver in qualifying again, McLaren will fear Ferrari overtaking them as Norris fights against Sainz and Leclerc, plus Verstappen. Having two drivers capable of winning saw McLaren eclipse Red Bull as Sergio Perez struggles but they might face the same situation.