Oscar Piastri admits he struggled to ‘find the rhythm’ in comparison to Lando Norris during Suzuka quali 

Oscar Piastri will start the 2024 Japanese GP from the third row on the grid.

Oscar Piastri admits he struggled to ‘find the rhythm’ in comparison to Lando Norris during Suzuka quali 

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (Via: Imago)

Last season, Oscar Piastri was able to get second place in qualifying during the Japanese GP. The Australian driver also managed to get a podium back then, but during this year’s qualifying, he barely managed to put himself in P6.

The 2023 rookie of the year was seen struggling from Q2 onward, he himself later admitted the same. However, his teammate, Lando Norris was able to place himself in P3 in today’s qualifying.

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While talking about his experience, Oscar Piastri had the following to say.

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I'd say a solid session is not the word I would use for it, but yes, I just struggled a bit from Q2 onwards just to sort of find the rhythm. Yes, just struggled a bit, especially in the middle sector it seemed like, so not my finest of days, but we'll try and see what we can do tomorrow. I mean, it is tricky. I think it's tricky for everyone.
Oscar Piastri told : racingnews365

The 22-year-old also talked about the tires on the MCL38. McLaren always had the advantage against some of its rivals at the Suzuka circuit due to its characteristics, however, as their car gets faster, Piastri believes it’s becoming difficult to put more stress on the tires around the Suzuka circuit. Whatever the issue, the team has been trying to fix it or at least make it better before tomorrow’s race.

Oscar Piastri considers Ferrari and Aston Martin strong competition

While Oscar Piastri was lamenting his Suzuka quali, he also pointed out that he believes that McLaren is the second quickest around the Suzuka circuit. However, despite this, he is not ruling out the threat that Aston Martin and Ferrari possess around the circuit.

Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri (via IMAGO)

The AMR24 and Ferrari’s SF-24 have also worked well so far around the 5.807 km long Suzuka circuit.

My thoughts on Ferrari being stronger, and Aston Martin being stronger are pretty accurate I would say. I think compared to last year, we were pretty clear second quickest. This weekend, I would say [we are] just second quickest. The driver can make the difference and I didn’t. I think we've got some tight competition and I expect that to continue tomorrow as well.
Oscar Piastri via: racingnews365

Despite McLaren having the upper hand in Japan, they still have tough competition to deal with during the race. Ferrari is getting stronger and so is Aston Martin. Keeping everything that has been discussed above, is going to be fascinating to see which outfit among the above three will come away from the 2024 Japanese GP with the bragging rights.

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