Oscar Piastri has highlighted his “biggest concern” after a highly challenging qualifying outing at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Piastri could only produce the eighth fastest lap time during Q3 while team-mate and title rival Lando Norris secured his first pole position since July.
However, Piastri will be promoted up one spot on the starting grid on Sunday due to a grid penalty for Carlos Sainz.
Norris has held the upper hand on Piastri all weekend as the championship battle between the pair enters the final rounds.
Piastri has raised an alarm at McLaren by stating that nothing during his laps has felt amiss, leaving him mystified over the root cause of his slow laps in comparison to his team-mate.
“Ultimately, [I’m] just a bit frustrated with how the sessions have gone,” Piastri told media including RacingNews365.
“There are a lot of things I could worry about, but ultimately, being that far off when you feel like you've done a reasonable job is a difficult place to be.
“That’s my biggest concern at the moment.”
Piastri's struggles are not solely attached to the weekend in Mexico, as he also suffered setbacks last time out in the US.
It led to being outpaced once again by Norris, who now sits just 14 points behind in the drivers' standings.
When asked if his current struggles are different to those he suffered with last time out in the US, Piastri replied: “In some ways, not too dissimilar.
“What’s been a bit surprising here has just been that the gap has been the same pretty much every session.
“I feel like I've done some decent laps through the weekend, but everything seems to be about four or five tenths off.
“That's obviously not a great sign but some of the things that were difficult in Austin are also pretty difficult here.
“There's been some things where I feel like I can tidy it up and make some easy progress, but not all of it.
“In qualifying, I felt like I did a reasonable job and the car felt reasonable as well. The lack of lap time is a bit of a mystery.”
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