Piastri also experienced frustrations with the new power unit regulations. The McLaren driver qualified seventh, four places behind teammate Lando Norris, and was unable to match the Briton’s straight-line performance despite making changes in an attempt to address the issue.
Reflecting on the extent to which the electrical side of the new engines can influence the competitive order, Piastri did not hold back.
“It sucks. I can’t really say it any other way than that,” Piastri said about how much the electrical part of the new engines dictate results this season.
“When you’ve got qualifying grids decided by computers behaving or misbehaving, it’s a pretty c–p way of going racing,” the McLaren driver added.