Formula 1 championship leader Oscar Piastri has conceded that McLaren lacked the outright speed to challenge for pole position in Singapore.
Piastri qualified highest among the two McLaren drivers, setting the third-fastest lap while teammate Lando Norris qualified in fifth place.
The Australian qualified four tenths off the pace of Mercedes’ George Russell. His third place means he will start behind Russell and Max Verstappen as he aims to extend his 25-point advantage at the top of the standings.
Piastri thought McLaren’s package was more competitive
McLaren Racing
The 24-year-old expected himself and McLaren to be more competitive, considering its dominant 1-3 performance in 2024.
Saturday marks the second consecutive race where McLaren drivers failed to secure a front-row position last time out in Baku and again this weekend in Marina Bay.
“Yes. I mean, I think my first lap of Q3 felt reasonable. It certainly didn’t feel four-tenths off bad,” he told reporters post-race. “So I just don’t think we had the pace tonight, which is a little bit of a surprise for us.
“It has been very tight through all of practice, but I think we were relatively confident going in. So, yeah, some things to look at and see where we’re lacking. But we’ve not had the easiest last couple of weekends. So it’s not a huge surprise in some ways because of how it’s gone recently, but I do think we felt after practice we had a better chance.”
Q1 mishap had no baring impact on rest of the session 
McLaren Racing
Piastri’s session in qualifying was delayed after a marshal showed a yellow flag, though Alex Albon’s Williams car simply got out of the way was simply avoiding his fast lap.
When asked if it made an impact on his momentum throughout the session, he stated: “Not really. Anytime on a street circuit you don’t do laps is frustrating, and I did feel like through Q1 I was playing catch-up a little bit.
“But ultimately, it didn’t really affect much. It was obviously frustrating to have a yellow flag thrown for someone getting out of the way.
“There’s been a lot of adjustments on the yellow flags and stuff like that, but I think there’s still some tweaking to do there, because Alex [Albon] did the best job he could to get out of my way, and it ended up costing me a lap anyway. So, some things to look at there.”
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