Piastri denies McLaren F1 'sacrifice' over pace woes

Oscar Piastri has denied he has sacrificed his qualifying pace in order to gain over a race distance during the current F1 season.

Race pace was a key weakness of PIastri during his rookie season with McLaren last year and he was often unable to contest the speed on display by team-mate Lando Norris.

Norris continues to hold the upper hand this year but Piastri has shown considerable growth, having strong pace at a number of events - including his two wins in Hungary and Azerbaijan.

Piastri is notably lacking in qualifying speed this year and is trailing 18-3 in the head-to-head fight against Norris.

The Australian denied he has given up something across one lap to aid his speed during grands prix.

“In the race, it’s definitely been a really good improvement from last year, that’s been good, Piastri told media including RacingNews365. 

“But the improvements in that have not really come at a sacrifice for qualifying approach. 

“There’s just been a few tricky sessions - but even going back to earlier in the year, my qualifying was very strong for a nice period.”

Piastri asserted qualifying improvements is his primary focus as a stronger result would transfer itself to a more successful grand prix.

“It’s definitely the focus at the moment because it would just make my weekends much easier, starting a bit higher up,” Piastri added.

“But it’s not like I’ve gained in the race and sacrificed qualifying. 

“In theory, I should be able to be good in both.”