Oscar Piastri cites inexperience for a qualifying performance that leaves him 16th on the grid for maiden home race.

Starting from the eighth row is not how Oscar Piastri envisaged his maiden single-seater race on home soil. However, as McLaren's woes continue, that is the reality of the situation, though the youngster isn't blaming the shortcomings of the MCL60.

"We adjusted the front wing a little bit for the last run and maybe it wasn't quite the best for the track conditions improving," he told Sky Sports.

"So yeah, I guess a little bit of inexperience on my side potentially," he added. "But it wasn't a big issue, it was only maybe a small tweak, it wouldn't have cost us too much."

The Australian was one of several drivers compromised by the red flag that followed Sergio Perez' off, his task made all the worse, once the session resumed, by traffic.

"All weekend it's been difficult to get the first lap going with the tyres, just because it's so cold," he said. "I think what we did was fine, just not quite quick enough."

The various issues on Friday, what with red flags and the changeable conditions, meant that there was little high-fuel running, and as a result this was the focus for this morning's session.

Consequently, when asked about his hopes for tomorrow, he said: "I don't think anyone really got enough long runs in to be honest. I think our pace was, was reasonable, nothing different, good or bad, compared to the last two races. We'll see.

"Melbourne keeps trying to rain as it does so who knows," he continued, "it might be to our advantage if it rains tomorrow, but I don't think it will."

Teammate, Lando Norris was even harder on his own performance, feeling that he overdrove the McLaren.

"Today wasn't quite as good as I was hoping," said the Briton. "The cooler conditions just made us struggle a little bit more to be consistent and get the maximum out of the car. It's still not a bad position to start and we can hopefully try to get into the points.

"I don't want to just settle for a P13 or P12," he continued, "so it's just a little bit of overdriving potentially. It's tough, especially when you're kind of close-ish.

"It's a tricky car to drive, one that is easy to go over the limit on anyway," he added. "When you combine that with trying to overdrive a little bit too much, then I made the mistakes like I did today. I am where I deserve to be.

"I'm not quite finding the rhythm that I want and the knowledge of every corner where the limit is exactly," he continued. I'm not quite driving the way I want and to the level I should hold myself to."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 01/04/2023 23:19

"I think that McLaren would do far better if they entered this beast at Crufts...easily a top five! Piastri has been refreshingly candid in explaining away his qualifying position. It's easy to pass up the fact that he has only ever completed one F1GP in his life and he's only two and one half tenths off the seasoned four year veteran occupying the opposite side of the garage. He's also qualified the car higher up on the grid since the start of the season than his opposite number. IMO Norris is overdriving, partially to maintain his status and it is showing up for all to see. Hopefully McLaren can improve the car soon otherwise it will be another year of wasted energy and massive amounts of dollars flushed away. Both drivers are capable of performing higher up the grid chain but it's down to McLaren to give them the means."

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2. Posted by alvarezh3, 01/04/2023 21:08

"It's easy from the outside to blame the driver when the car is not performing. Race cars can me very tricky to drive, they are not your street driven Toyota or Ford which are designed from the onset to be driven even by nonafenarians, some are real beasts. You see them going smoothly on the track but you can't tell how hard the driver is working to keep it going that way.

This year's McLaren seems to be an animal hard to tame, and maybe more so due to Melbourne's cold conditions encountered so far."

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Piastri blames inexperience

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