Piastri aiming to close off double header with double points

Looking ahead to this weekend’s running in Jeddah, Oscar Piastri is welcoming the high-speed challenge, reaffirming that the “chasing pack is not too far behind” as he hunts down his second points finish of the year in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Compared to their last year’s efforts, McLaren have started the season off on a positive note with both drivers qualifying in the top ten and crossing the line in the points-finishing places in Bahrain. 

“I think we’ve seemed a little bit more competitive in qualifying than the race, which was not a complete surprise. But yeah, I think around third or fourth quickest is roughly where we expected to be,” Piastri said.

“We will see if that picture changes a little bit in the next few races, I think [Saudi Arabia] will be another interesting point for us to see where we stack up. 

“But yeah, I think honestly, we were about where we expected. 

“And I think that’s not a bad place to be starting the year.” 

Although finishing behind his teammate, Piastri was happy to take the chequered flag in P8, a very different close compared to his F1 debut in 2023 in which the Australian suffered a DNF.

“I thought it was a strong race for myself,” Piastri said.

“You know, I think in those kinds of circuits last year, where the tyres degrade a lot, and there’s not much grip and you really challenge the rear tyres was generally where I struggled a little bit more.

“And I think to come away from Bahrain very even on pace to Lando, I was honestly happy with that. 

“So yeah, for me, it was a good step forward.”

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the pit lane during the Bahrain GP. Image: Simon Galloway / LAT Images.

Heading into this weekend’s events, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit poses a new challenge for McLaren, also creating an opportunity to learn more about the MCL38 in new conditions.

Piastri says, after Bahrain and testing, there haven’t been any “major surprises in the way the cars behaving” thus far.

“The car’s doing everything – from certainly a numbers point of view – that we expect it to do. 

“And from a driving point of view, pretty much what we expect, even if we want some things to be a little bit different.”

The circuit itself is comprised of a whopping 27 corners that range from both ends of the spectrum in terms of speed, allowing the skill of the driver to shine as they maximise every last millisecond and millimetre of the lap come qualifying and the race.

“I think the biggest thing here is, I mean, the low speed is, okay, Turn 1 and 2 is quite slow. 

“The last corner is not… Certainly not quite as slow as somewhere like Bahrain, but also the tarmac is completely different, which is very high grip. 

“So that will be another factor that we have to see if that helps us or hinders us.

“I think also there’s so much more high-speed content, you know, Bahrain is really Turn 6 and 7, which is medium to high speed, here you’ve got the whole sector one, which is very, very high speed. 

“So it’d be interesting to see, you know, how much of an offset that creates for us, but I think we’re feeling optimistic.” 

Oscar Piastri battled hard with Pierre Gasly at the start of last year’s Saudi Arabian GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.

According to the #81, Saudi Arabia will be a “good data point” to assess the MCL38’s downforce levels, with Bahrain leaving the team with a mixed bag of results on that front.

After following Fernando Alonso for a short while in Sunday’s race, Piastri said the car “didn’t feel completely different to what I was used to”, adding that his team has “made some improvements [over the past year], we just need to see, you know, across all the different downforce levels that we’ve got whether we can sort of hang on to [the front of the pack].” 

“You know, I feel like there’s some optimism and some hope, it’ll be interesting to see, again, where we are this weekend.

“Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of our car and the strengths of the Red Bull, hopefully, we can be a bit closer here and at some other circuits, but it wasn’t as bad as some races last year. That’s for sure. 

“We’ve only had one race, we’ll see if it keeps staying that kind of gap. 

“And of course, it’s difficult to take, but I think the biggest thing for us was I think two tenths would have put us P2 [in Qualifying], and you know even looking at Leclerc, he had the quickest lap Q2 that would have put him on pole.”

All that on top of the off-track circus would be enough to distract anyone, however, Piastri says he is leaving the news to the rest of the paddock to focus on.

“I’m just focused on trying to go fast this weekend.”

Piastri will test the limits of his MCL38 around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit early tomorrow morning, with FP1 kicking off at 12:30 AM, Friday, AEST.

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