Oscar Piastri did not feel like things were going too bad in his McLaren during Mexican Grand Prix qualifying, yet the final result was emphatic.<\/p>\n
Managing P7 only on the grid while McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris claimed an impressive pole, 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve said it was \u201creally strange\u201d to hear that Piastri<\/a> had a \u201creasonable\u201d feeling in the car, despite a final deficit of almost six-tenths to Norris.<\/p>\n Baffled Oscar Piastri alerts Jacques Villeneuve<\/p>\n Piastri went into qualifying on the back foot compared to Norris, a position which did not change come the end of Q3. Norris uncorked a 1:15.586 to strip Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc of pole by a quarter of a second, while Piastri managed only the eighth-fastest time, 0.588 seconds slower than Norris.<\/p>\n A five-place grid penalty for Carlos Sainz \u2013 carried over from his US Grand Prix collision with Kimi Antonelli \u2013 promotes Piastri one position to seventh for the start on Sunday.<\/p>\n It was a very abnormal gulf between the McLaren drivers, yet Piastri told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve done some decent laps through the weekend, but everything seems to be about four or five-tenths off. So that\u2019s obviously not a great sign.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, just a bit frustrated with how the session has gone. There\u2019s a lot of things I could worry about, but ultimately, being that far off when you feel like you\u2019ve done a reasonable job is a difficult place to be, and so that\u2019s my biggest concern.\u201d<\/p>\n Villeneuve, on Sky F1 punditry duties in Mexico, says a gap as stark as that between teammates, usually triggers the driver on the wrong side to really start pushing the boundaries, not find satisfaction in how the car was feeling.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cWhat was odd, his comments about, I don\u2019t know why there\u2019s no pace, and when you say that you\u2019re quite happy with the car, everything is feeling good, and somehow it\u2019s not working on the clock.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re slower than your teammate by that amount, normally, you will try to push a little bit harder. You\u2019ll get in trouble. You\u2019ll lock wheels, so you\u2019ll start to figure out, okay, there\u2019s issues here and there. I can improve there.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he seemed to be happy with how the car was feeling, and that\u2019s what\u2019s really strange.\u201d<\/p>\n More Mexican GP talking points from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 starting grid: What is the grid order for the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix?<\/a><\/p>\n Piastri also teased \u201csome fun\u201d to come if he can unlock performance from his McLaren, though Sky F1 analyst Jamie Chadwick warned that progress could be hard to come by during the race.<\/p>\n In addition to highlighting a weaker tow effect in the high altitude of Mexico City, Chadwick also suggested that the converged F1 grid makes it harder for drivers to overtake each other.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like he\u2019s made one or two mistakes in a lap, and he can go, \u2018Right, that\u2019s exactly where the time is, and I can go and rectify that,’\u201d said Chadwick. \u201cI think the whole weekend is what Oscar was saying, is he\u2019s been down on performance to Lando, the deficit hasn\u2019t really changed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s frustrating for him, because he\u2019ll feel like he\u2019s making improvements. If you took away the lap time on his dash, he probably would have thought he was maybe top two, top three, if he knew that Lando was on pole. So that plays on your mind big time, and it\u2019s really difficult to kind of work out and pinpoint exactly where it is.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s a challenge for him. It\u2019s going to be a challenge for him tomorrow.<\/p>\n \u201cTrack position is also quite critical after Lap 1. Even though you\u2019ve got this long, massive straight, the effect of the tow isn\u2019t so significant.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to have to get his elbows out tomorrow, which I think is going to be quite exciting to watch. He\u2019s going to have to make some overtakes if their race pace is stronger.<\/p>\n \u201cBut at the moment, I honestly think what\u2019s great about Formula 1 at the moment is how competitive it is. What\u2019s not so great is because it\u2019s so competitive and so close, it\u2019s hard for them to actually make the difference in the race once qualifying has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Piastri enters the race 14 points ahead of Norris at the top of the Drivers\u2019 Championship<\/a>, and 40 points clear of Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock<\/p>\n