{"id":539991,"date":"2026-03-14T13:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T13:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539991\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T13:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T13:12:08","slug":"oscar-piastri-feels-mclaren-about-where-we-belong-in-china-qualifying-as-lando-norris-says-team-are-a-step-behind-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539991\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri feels McLaren \u2018about where we belong\u2019 in China Qualifying as Lando Norris says team are \u2018a step behind\u2019 rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri believes that McLaren are \u201cabout where we belong\u201d after taking P5 and P6 in Qualifying for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, with Lando Norris suggesting that the team are \u201ca step behind\u201d their rivals.<\/p>\n

Following the squad\u2019s P4 and P6 for Norris<\/a> and Piastri<\/a> respectively in the Sprint, the reigning Teams\u2019 Champions experienced a similar level of performance in Qualifying, though Piastri felt that they may have moved closer during the Q3 segment.<\/p>\n

Asked if his fifth place was the most he could get out of the afternoon, the Australian answered: \u201cI think so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last lap I did was not the greatest, so I think there was potentially a bit more in it, but just very difficult to get everything out of the car today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m reasonably happy with it \u2013 it\u2019s about where we kind of belong. I felt like in Q3 we maybe got a little bit closer, but we\u2019ve still got some work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of the thinking for Sunday\u2019s Grand Prix \u2013 off the back of an eventful start in Saturday\u2019s Sprint<\/a> \u2013 Piastri said: \u201cTry and get a good start if I can \u2013 that\u2019s probably the first thing, and then see what the tyres do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the tyres were a pretty big factor in the Sprint, but I think just car pace is going to be very important. We\u2019ll see what our pace is like, and if we\u2019ve got enough grip then maybe we can mix it with the guys at the front, but we\u2019ll wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris echoed Piastri\u2019s sentiments, with the Briton admitting that there may potentially have been more in his lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth runs [in Q3] were pretty similar, I think,\u201d said Norris. \u201cI made a big mistake on my first lap in the final corner, which cost me maybe a tenth, and maybe a tenth is almost a position but it\u2019s very close to the Ferraris.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough because you think, could we have got another tenth and a half out of it or something? I think that was in it today, so [I] just didn\u2019t quite hook it up but otherwise I think we\u2019re probably where we deserve to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Ferraris are quicker and it will be tough to race against them tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether there are any opportunities for McLaren<\/a> come Sunday \u2013 and if the start might act as a possibility \u2013 Norris added: \u201cNo idea on the start \u2013 it could be amazing, it could not be good, you never really know.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our starts have been good, so touch wood it\u2019s the same tomorrow. We\u2019ll see how we can challenge the guys ahead, at least how we can put them under pressure, [and] see if they make any mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s clear that we\u2019re a step behind, and therefore racing that kind of car is always going to be tricky, but you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri believes that McLaren are \u201cabout where we belong\u201d after taking P5 and P6 in Qualifying for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-539991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}