‘We Just Weren’t Quick Enough’: Piastri Admits McLaren Need to Improve After Malaysia P6
Oscar Piastri finished the Sepang race exactly where he started — sixth — but the road there was anything but straightforward. The rain-hit start forced McLaren onto medium tyres, a call that unravelled as soon as it became clear the track was still too wet for them.
Piastri pitted on lap one for intermediates, dropping backward through the order, then stopped again under the first Safety Car for hards — a second strategy swing as the team scrambled to claw back the lost pace.
The tensest moment came later, when he nearly collided with teammate Lando Norris as the Briton emerged from the gravel during another Safety Car period. Both survived unscathed, but the near-miss underlined just how chaotic the afternoon had become for the team.
Piastri himself stayed relatively upbeat about his own drive: “Overall, reasonably happy… I felt like I did a pretty good job today, which was good. Unfortunately we just weren’t quick enough to really do that much.” On McLaren’s competitiveness, he was blunter: “I think us and Ferrari seem a little bit in a similar ballpark, but that ballpark is not fighting for race wins, so we need to improve.”
Source: Formula1.com (https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/we-just-werent-quick-enough-piastri-admits-mclaren-need-to-improve-after-malaysia-p6.6xn5ElSyF1kysf39dqwDGt)
