Piastri questions 'wrong' McLaren strategy call

Oscar Piastri has questioned McLaren's strategy of opting for two push laps in SQ3 at the Chinese Grand Prix sprint.

After strong pace through practice and SQ1 and SQ2, McLaren decided to go for two push laps during the eight-minute SQ3 segment, with only Mercedes following suit.

Rivals Ferrari and Red Bull opted for a single run, with Lewis Hamilton snaring pole position by 0.018s from Max Verstappen, with Piastri less than a tenth behind in third as Lando Norris was only sixth after a pair of mistakes.

Looking back, Piastri felt the decision for a push-cool-push run in SQ3 was not the right decision.

"I think we were quick at the wrong points of it, unfortunately," Piastri reflected.

"SQ1 and SQ2 felt good, but then we tried something a bit different and went out much earlier in SQ3, and tried two laps.

"I'm not sure that was the best thing in the end, and it is something we need to have a look at, but the pace in the car is very strong and I'm still confident we can fight from third.

"The track surface has a lot of grip, but it is very peaky, and it has been tough to be on top of the car all day.

"We did a good job of trying to tame it for sprint qualifying and then just got the run plan wrong, but it's been an interesting challenge.

"The grip has been a lot better than last season, which is nice, but there are still some things we can do better."