Oscar Piastri believes the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia "exposes" a number of "challenges" McLaren is facing with its MCL40 F1 car.
The Australian driver took seventh on the road in Sepang but will be promoted to an all McLaren third-row in sixth after Isack Hadjar takes his five-place penalty and drops to eighth from third.
His time of 1:35.762 in Q3 was just 0.005s slower than Lando Norris in the sister car on a track which is not best suited to the characteristics of the MCL40 machine, with long straights exposing the draggy nature of the car.
The car is also particularly weak in low-speed corners, with Turns 1, 2, 9, 14, and 15 all slow-speed corners, including hairpins.
In the end, Piastri ended 0.632s off Max Verstappen's pole position time, but he was just 0.131s from taking fourth on the road, which Kimi Antonelli did, which translated into third once Hadjar's penalty was applied.
Reflecting, Piastri felt the end result was not a "huge surprise" given the difficulties McLaren is facing.
"The first lap in Q3 was pretty good, and then the second one I need to look at what happened in Turns 1 and 2 because I turned into Turn 2 and was nearly going backwards," Piastri told media, including RacingNews365.
"So that wasn't a great way to start the last lap, but overall, it was a pretty good session. I just don't think that we've been that competitive here, and in FP1 we were a long way off.
"I think we've improved a bit through the weekend; this track really exposes a lot of the challenges we have in getting time out of the car, and I don't think it is a huge surprise we are where we are.
"I think there was a bit more time out there for me, but on a track like this that is so rough, so brutal on tyres, you almost have to keep a little bit within yourself to not really fall off the cliff, so there is always probably a corner or two that feel pretty awful in the way you have to drive them, how much sliding you have.
"So nothing ever feels great, I don't think, but the fact that we're so close together is a good sign, and there was probably a bit more in it for us."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the Azerbaijan GP but also look ahead to F1's return this weekend to Malaysia! Rumours linking Christian Horner with a return to the sport is a major talking point.
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