Oscar Piastri seeking McLaren answers over 'impressive' Mercedes deficit

Oscar Piastri is seeking answers from McLaren on where it must improve after the scale of the 'impressive' Mercedes deficit was laid bare in Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying.

Despite performing strongly in Sector 1, Piastri ended up 0.704s down on the pole-sitter George Russell, with Kimi Antonelli locking out the front row, as in the Australian GP last week. 

Around six-tenths of Piastri's deficit to Russell came in the final sector, which consists of the long banked Turn 12 and 13, the 1.2km back straight, the heavy braking zone of Turn 14 before the final fast left-hand 90 degree corner.

The Australian, who will be looking to score his first points of the season in the 19-lap shorter race following his embarrassing crash on the way to grid in Melbourne on Sunday, believes Mercedes' advantage is "impressive" and one which needs to be investigated.

"It was reasonable, and I think the step in grip from the medium to the soft was pretty big," Piastri explained.

"But obviously, the gap to Mercedes is pretty impressive, so there are some things for us to work on.

"The car felt pretty good; it was a pretty decent lap, so I don't think there was too much left.

"We executed a good session, the car felt pretty good, and everything was smooth.

"In Sector 1, we seemed good, but obviously losing six-tenths [to Mercedes] in the last sector is impressive, so we will go and have a look at where we're losing the time."