Oscar Piastri remains unsure if he made improvements with the McLaren during the F1 Mexican GP

Oscar Piastri remains uncertain whether the improvements made during the Mexican GP were enough to unlock the car’s maximum potential. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, the McLaren driver admitted that his main challenge over the past two race weekends has been extracting optimum performance from his car.

Starting ninth and finishing fifth in Mexico, Piastri showed decent recovery pace but continued to struggle in comparison to teammate Lando Norris, who won the race. The Australian revealed that he had to adapt his driving style significantly throughout the weekend in an attempt to get more out of the car.

His difficulties have persisted since the Austin weekend, where the bumpy surface and medium-to-low downforce setup exposed some of his weaknesses. Piastri explained that while the car clearly has the performance, he’s found it challenging to optimize it to his preferences. He believes there was progress made in Mexico, but admitted it was difficult to gauge its effectiveness, adding that a deeper analysis of the race data should help him better understand the mixed results.

Asked by Sportskeeda if the car was better in the race in Mexico compared to qualifying, Oscar Piastri explained:

“Difficult to say. I think maybe a little bit better, but it wasn't so much the pace of the car, because clearly the car was pretty quick this weekend. It was more just trying to unlock it. I felt like I potentially made some steps in doing that today. But ultimately, when you're behind so many cars and trying to fight for so long, it's difficult to measure that a little bit. Hopefully, we'll get a bit more indication from some of the data.”

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Oscar Piastri believes that it is difficult to outline the expectations for the next few race weekends

Oscar Piastri believes it’s difficult to set clear expectations for the upcoming race weekends. While he felt the car showed strong pace in Mexico, the McLaren driver said the team still needs to analyze whether the recent changes were responsible for the improvement.

Piastri added that if the adjustments proved effective, it would be a satisfying step forward, but if not, it would require rethinking their approach and finding new ways to unlock performance from the car. One of the key differences, according to Piastri, was his driving style. He admitted earlier that he had to go against his style behind the wheel to make the car work in his favor and extract more performance across the weekend.

Asked what he expects in the next few race weekends, Oscar Piastri said:

“Difficult to know what to expect. I think you know, clear the pace in the car has being strong this weekend, just I've not really been able to unlock it that much. I think I need to learn if there was some things to learn if, we've changed some things today and made progress with that. And yeah, if I have, that'll leave me relatively happy if there's still some things to learn, then it's back to the drawing board for a bit.”

Oscar Piastri lost his lead in the championship and now trails teammate Lando Norris by just one point. An untimely Virtual Safety Car cost him the chance to reclaim that lead, as it came out while he was within DRS range of Ollie Bearman in the closing laps of the Mexican GP. Had he managed to overtake the Haas driver and finish fourth, Piastri would have retained a one-point advantage in the standings.

Max Verstappen remains third in the title fight, trailing Piastri by 35 points, with 116 points still up for grabs across two sprint weekends and four main races, setting the stage for a tense championship finale.

Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar