Oscar Piastri’s championship lead has finally been overturned, as both his teammate and Max Verstappen have been slowly closing the gap to the Australian over the course of the last few races.
However, whilst his problems seem to have worsened over the course of the last four races, he may have been struggling for some time before that.
The slide of Oscar Piastri
Victories for Piastri in Belgium and the Netherlands glossed over some of the cracks that had appeared to form in his title challenge after McLaren completed the bulk of their development work between the Canadian and British Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, the DNF in Azerbaijan and the non-podium finishes in Singapore, the United States and Mexico have seen the Australian fall back into the clutches of his title rivals.
Of course, this is not a one factor problem either, with a myriad of potential issues leading to his drop in form, including Max Verstappen re-inserting himself into a narrative already thought concluded.
This resurgence is driven by Red Bull’s desire to unlock the underlying performance of the RB21, with a raft of parts installed on the car in the races that have followed the summer break.
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However, whilst McLaren haven’t busied themselves with a similar development programme during this period, the update run they made between Canada and Great Britain was substantial in its own right.
Furthermore, it introduced an alternative front suspension arrangement at the Canadian Grand Prix that only Norris would adopt, as it resolved some of the issues both drivers had communicated in the opening phase of the season, but he was having more problems addressing.
Of the new configuration, having briefly tested it, Piastri wasn’t convinced he needed to make the change.
“It changes some things; some things are better, some things are worse. It’s not as simple. It’s not an upgrade, it’s a different part. I had the option to run it but chose not to. I’ve been happy with how the car’s been so far this year and, again, just wanted to keep consistency.”
In the time since McLaren introduced this revised suspension configuration we’ve seen the points gap shrink considerably between Piastri and Norris, which could be a contributing factor in where that disparity between the two has arisen.
A numbness or lack of feel from the front suspension and steering, which is partly a consequence of the aggressive design concept adopted by the team, sometimes makes it difficult for the drivers to find the limit, whilst having an impact on how the tyres perform both over the course of one lap and during a stint.
This is something that’s seemed to have worsened in the last few races, where the car is set up on the higher downforce end of the spectrum, whilst some of those venues are also considered ‘low grip’, making it more difficult to find the limit of the tyres.
This could offer some clues as to why Piastri has found himself adrift of his team mate and some of his other rivals during that period and why he’s talked about making changes to his driving style in order to find more performance from the car and the tyres as a consequence.
“For some reason the last couple of weekends has required a very different way of driving. And what’s worked well for me in the last 19 races has needed something very different the last couple of weekends, and trying to wrap my head around why, has been a bit of a struggle.
“But ultimately, today was about trying to experiment with some of those things. Because I would agree. I think driving the way I’ve had to drive these last couple of weekends is not particularly natural for me. So it’s been about trying to exploit as much as I can.”
Spot the difference
In terms of the differences between the two suspension configurations being used by the McLaren duo, there’s not a lot of difference, at least from a visual perspective.
Circled above, we can see that the two configurations differ where the upper wishbone and upright intersect, with the most obvious difference between the two represented by the angle of the lead arm and the small protrusion on the arrangement used by Norris.
Notably, McLaren’s use of a multi-link wishbone arrangement might amplify these small changes and alter both the turning radius and the feedback being presented.
The changes made to the suspension, which have clearly boosted Norris’ performances thereafter, also came around the time when McLaren were having their big development push for the season, with a multitude of new parts installed on the MCL39.
This included a new front wing and revised floor architecture, both of which were designed to work with both arrangements in mind but, with this generation of car being so sensitive to setup and ride height, it’s altogether plausible that under certain conditions, one direction will win out over the other.
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Regardless, Piastri has had the option of this other suspension arrangement at his disposal throughout but has stayed the course, opting for the familiar setup that served him so well in the opening phase of the season.
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