Piastri “excited to see what we can do” in China

Putting the heartbreak of Melbourne behind him, Oscar Piastri says he and McLaren are “confident that we can be competitive” around the newly-resurfaced Shanghai International Circuit for the first Sprint weekend of the season.

Despite the rain clouds saying otherwise, it wasn’t all doom and gloom last Sunday for the home hero, with Piastri looking beyond the final outcome of the Australian Grand Prix to see some encouraging signs.

Despite losing out to Max Verstappen during the field’s initial launch, the Australian quickly found his way into second place, even threatening his teammate for the lead.

A trip through the gravel at Turn 12 stole Piastri’s dream of standing on the top step in front of the home crowd, however, that doesn’t mean he won’t be giving Australians something to cheer about this weekend, albeit from afar. 

“I think, [I’m feeling] pretty confident [about fighting for the win in China],” Piastri said.

“You know, the pace in Melbourne was really encouraging.

“I think from, obviously, the car, but I think on a personal note it was a strong weekend as well.

“So, yeah, I’m excited to see what we can do.

“The track has changed a little bit from the last time we were here with it being resurfaced so, excited to see what changes that makes.”

Fans will also be watching to see what changes McLaren has made to its ‘team orders’ protocol after disappointing spectators by instructing Piastri to call off his charge on Lando Norris during the Australian Grand Prix.

After dissipating his attack, it was too little, too late for Piastri when McLaren finally allowed its drivers to race, causing a fair amount of discussion regarding such calls. 

“We’ve had some good chats about it through the week, and I think identified how we can… you know, what the reasoning was and maybe how we can improve on that in the future,” the #81 said.

“But, you know, I think there’s always the possibility of having these kinds of calls in either direction so, yeah.

“I felt like I had a very strong race and I think there’s been some good chats about how we can — if we need to implement [team orders] — how we can do that in a more seamless way.”

McLaren proved to be a competitive force in Shanghai last year, with Norris crossing the line in second place, 13 seconds behind Verstappen while Piastri settled for P8.

This year, however, McLaren comes into the first Sprint event of the season as the heavy favourite. 

“I think [I’m] confident that we can be competitive, yes,” Piastri said.

“It’s, you know, obviously, a very different layout to Melbourne, but I think last year we had, as a team, a pretty competitive weekend.

“So I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do. 

“But I think we expect to be competitive but I think also, in Melbourne, the gap to our rivals surprised us and I don’t think that was because we necessarily excelled. 

“I think some of our rivals didn’t maximise what they had because in practice they looked much more competitive so we’ll wait and see.

“But I think, either way, we’re focusing on our own competitiveness and I think we should be strong.”

The limited Sprint schedule means teams will be allowed just one hour of practice on the newly resurfaced Shanghai International Circuit, with a lot of learning to be squeezed into Free Practice before Sprint Qualifying takes place this evening.

Image: McLaren

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