Oscar Piastri is searching for "answers" as to why his Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was so difficult, with the complete lack of pace coming as a "surprise".
The Australian qualified seventh but was just 0.092s adrift of Kimi Antonelli in third, in what was a remarkably close battle for the positions on the second row.
However, come the grand prix, Piastri struggled significantly for outright pace and had to settle for a lonely fifth place.
Concerningly, Piastri finished 25 seconds behind team-mate Lando Norris, with the reigning world champion securing a podium for the Woking-based outfit.
Piastri was left unsure of exactly what caused his race to be so difficult, although he did outline the challenges he faced with tyre grip and extending his stints.
Discussing if he understood what made his race so difficult, Piastri told select media, including RacingNews365: "No, not really. I was trying a lot of different things and running into a lot of different problems.
"So I think we were just struggling a lot with grip and tyre life, obviously. I don't have any answers at the moment. I'm sure there will be some answers later, but yeah, it was a surprise to struggle so much."
There was a significant performance difference between the two McLarens, with Norris remaining within touching distance of the Mercedes drivers throughout the race.
Asked if his set up was different to Norris', Piastri replied: "Marginal stuff, but nothing major."
While some laps did feel better for Piastri than others, it came at an immediate cost for the 25-year-old, who is hopeful that McLaren can learn from what went wrong.
"There were a few laps here and there that felt a little bit better, but that normally came at a price a few laps later, so it was just not an easy afternoon at all," added Piastri.
"All I can hope is that we learn why it was so difficult from that. Obviously, the points we gained were still reasonable, but yeah, we obviously wanted the performance to be a lot stronger than it was."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Samuel Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on last weekend's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix! Lewis Hamilton's first win for Ferrari is a major talking point, as is the growing concern that Mercedes has a serious reliability issue.
Rather watch this podcast? Then click here!
Get the latest F1 news from RacingNews365 directly in your Google feed! Click on the link below and you’ll see your favourite F1 website appearing even more often. That way, you’ll never miss any news, analyses, interviews, or exclusives.
Follow RacingNews365 on GoogleMost read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!