Oscar Piastri conceded that McLaren has been left scratching its head after losing significant time to Mercedes in the final sector during sprint qualifying at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.

McLaren took a step forward on Friday in China, joining Ferrari in the battle behind pace setters Mercedes, with Piastri qualifying in fifth place for the sprint race, while team-mate Lando Norris headed the second row in third.

While pleased with the improvements from one week ago, when asked if McLaren had answers that explained the remaining gap of over six-tenths, Piastri told Sky Sports: “No. I think, sector one, we seem good, but six tenths in the last sector is impressive. We’ll go and have a look at where we’re losing time.”

He added, “Our pace was reasonable. I think the step in grip from the mediums to the softs was pretty big, but obviously, the gap to Mercedes is pretty impressive, so there are some things to try and work on. I think the car felt pretty good; it was a pretty decent lap, so I don’t think there was too much left.”

F1 teams ‘falling into line’ in China

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For Norris, the Chinese Grand Prix weekend is a chance to observe a more genuine pecking order, with Australia widely acknowledged as an outlier given its more unique layout.

“I’m just really happy to beat both of the Ferraris today, because they seemed quite good all day. I’m satisfied. A good position for tomorrow. Certainly, things have been better this weekend, just because the track is a lot more simple from that side of things, from a power unit side of things, so everyone kind of falls in line a bit more.

“We certainly seemed to get a good amount out of it in the end, and it was close, so I feel like we’re in a good position.”

While Charles Leclerc was able to jump into the lead at the start of the Australian Grand Prix, Norris does not expect to replicate this for McLaren on Saturday morning.

“For years, they’ve [Mercedes] been one of the best starters,” he explained. “It’s an opportunity for sure. I think they know what they did wrong last weekend in Melbourne and they’ll probably be fine tomorrow.

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“But it’s a good opportunity. It’s the easiest place to overtake – off the line – so we’ll see what we can do.” 

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