Piastri at a loss to explain qualifying deficit to Norris

Oscar Piastri is seeking answers as to why he is struggling to match McLaren team-mate Lando Norris at the Spanish Grand Prix. 

In qualifying, whilst Norris snatched pole position from Max Verstappen, Piastri was only 10th fastest, having not actually set a time in Q3 after running wide on his one lap at Turn 12 and sliding through the gravel. 

He will start ninth after Sergio Perez's penalty, but the Australian has been comfortably behind Norris all weekend, and feels that whilst he didn't "throw away" a result, the root cause of the struggles needs to be investigated.

"It wasn't looking amazing, it certainly wasn't going to be pole, so I don't feel like I threw away that much of a result," Piastri told media including RacingNews365.

"I think it would have maybe been P7 or P8 at best, so I don't feel like I made a mistake that cost a big result, I've just not had the pace.

"It is not ideal and I just need to understand why it has been the case that it's not been very natural all weekend.

"In the last four or five races, from the first lap of practice, I've been comfortable with the car and able to push on from there, and this weekend, nothing is coming. 

"I just got a massive push of understeer, I don't know if I carried too much speed or got a gust of wind or whatever, but it was not very predictable."

The final sector

Piastri pinpointed the final sector of the lap as somewhere he has particularly been struggling throughout the weekend, and described how he "didn't have anything to lose" heading into qualifying.

"It is very minor things, but there are always very minor things. It is a little bit random, which for me is kind of an indicator that I've not had much confidence with the car," he added.

"If it's one or two corners consistently then you can kind of go: '[Lando is] doing a better job but one session, it has been one corner and the next one has been somewhere else. 

"The last sector has been a little bit difficult, but never for the same reason. My laps weren't going to be anything amazing, so I knew I didn't have anything to lose.