Ever since Oscar Piastri made his Formula 1 debut for McLaren two seasons ago, it’s become almost a cliche to say that the main factor separating him from team-mate Lando Norris is his qualifying performance. A bald view of the statistics would appear to bear that out: in 2023 Norris outqualified Piastri for grands prix 15-7, in 2024 that gap widened to 20-4 – with the result that, barring a few outliers, Piastri spent most of his time behind Norris on track.
A captive narrative has emerged that he hasn’t yet nailed the art of bringing his tires into the ‘sweet spot’ which enables Piastri to extract maximum performance from his car over a single lap in qualifying. As a result, say the detractors, he pushes too hard in races and doesn’t get the best out of his tires there either.
