McLaren's rising star Oscar Piastri has lifted the lid on his nightmare performance at the Mexico City Grand Prix, describing his car as feeling "terrible" throughout Sunday's race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
The Australian driver, who started from a promising fifth position on the grid, suffered a dramatic collapse in form, plummeting through the field to finish outside the points in 14th place while his British teammate Lando Norris secured eighth position and valuable championship points.
From Promise to Peril: Piastri's Race Unravels
"It was a terrible race," Piastri confessed to reporters post-race. "From the first lap to the last, the car felt really difficult. I was struggling with the tyres, struggling with the balance - just struggling with everything."
The young driver's frustration was palpable as he detailed the technical issues that plagued his afternoon. "We need to understand why it was so bad because in the first stint I was one of the slowest cars on track, and in the second stint I was still one of the slowest cars on track."
Norris Capitalises Amid McLaren's Mixed Fortunes
While Piastri battled an uncooperative machine, Lando Norris demonstrated what the McLaren was capable of, fighting through the field to secure four championship points. The British driver's performance highlighted the stark contrast between the two sides of the McLaren garage on race day.
Norris acknowledged the team's challenging weekend, stating: "It was a tough race for us, but we managed to make the strategy work and bring home some important points for the team."
Technical Mystery Leaves Team Searching for Answers
The dramatic performance disparity between the two McLaren drivers has left the team's engineers scrambling for explanations. Piastri revealed that initial assessments hadn't identified any obvious mechanical failures, deepening the mystery surrounding his performance collapse.
"We need to go through everything," Piastri emphasised. "There's clearly something that wasn't right. The car felt very different to how it felt on Friday and even in qualifying yesterday."
The disappointing result marks a significant setback for Piastri, who had been showing impressive form in recent races. As the F1 circus moves to Brazil, the McLaren team faces intense pressure to diagnose and resolve the issues that derailed their promising Mexican weekend.
