Currently occupying the third spot in the Constructors’ Championship, the Woking team is gearing up for what could be a challenging race at the Chinese Grand Prix, according to Oscar Piastri.
McLaren’s performance in the 2024 campaign has been commendable thus far, with the team amassing a total of 69 points over the first four races, positioning them in third place in the Constructors’ standings.
Despite their solid start, McLaren acknowledges the significant gap between them and the leading teams, Red Bull and Ferrari. Nonetheless, compared to the previous year, McLaren finds themselves equipped with a competitive car, the MCL38, and two skilled drivers in Lando Norris and Piastri.
While optimism surrounds McLaren’s potential to capitalize on their strong start, Team Principal Andrea Stella expressed concerns earlier in the week about the team’s car potentially lacking competitiveness at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Piastri echoed these sentiments, acknowledging the challenges ahead and drawing parallels to Bahrain, where both he and his British teammate experienced their least favorable race results of the 2024 campaign.
“I think it’ll be one of the toughest circuits for us so far,” Piastri stated.
“I think, Bahrain, there’s a lot of low-speed corners there as well, and we were not as competitive there as some of the more recent circuits. So, I think it’ll be a tough weekend for us, to be honest.”
This weekend marks the commencement of the sprint weekends in Formula 1 for the 2024 season, a notable return to the Shanghai International Circuit after a hiatus since 2019.
However, the revised weekend schedule in China, attributed to the sprint format, translates to only one practice session available. This limitation significantly reduces the time allocated for teams to experiment with various setups.
Nevertheless, Oscar Piastri, a previous Sprint race victor, perceives this as a chance for McLaren to potentially secure more points than initially anticipated. He asserts, “I think there’s still opportunities for us, given it’s a sprint.
“Given that nobody’s been here for five years, it kind of is difficult for everybody, and also for the teams – not coming here in this regulation of cars makes life tough for them. Yeah, I think for me, the sprint makes it the same for everybody.”
Could McLaren surpass their initial expectations at the Chinese Grand Prix, with Norris securing pole position for the Sprint race on Saturday and Piastri commencing from P8?
