The McLaren driver had looked capable of fighting further up the order during the early stages of Q3, but ultimately had to settle for seventh as George Russell claimed pole for Mercedes ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli.
Lando Norris finished fourth in the sister McLaren, just ahead of the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, while Piastri was left to assess where his final lap had slipped away.
The Australian said the biggest surprise came in the final sector, having believed he was on course for a stronger lap before reaching the end of the circuit.
“I was a bit surprised I lost so much time in final sector to be honest,” he told Sky Sports.
“I need to look at where I lost it because I went into the final sector on a good lap and came out of it not that much quicker than my lap before.
“So that was a bit of a surprise for me. So I’ll have a look.
Secure your spot today.
“But it’s obviously very, very tight. We don’t have the pace to match Mercedes. I think even Ferrari have looked very strong today. And I think that’ll bode well for them in the race tomorrow.
“So, let’s see what we can do.”
While Piastri was left frustrated with seventh, the tight margins behind the frontrunners left McLaren with some encouragement ahead of what is expected to be a tyre-sensitive race.
Piastri said tyre life would likely play a major role in the outcome, with multiple stops expected around a demanding Barcelona circuit.
“Tyre life is always an important thing around here. And that’s not changed with these cars,” he added.
“So there will definitely be a fair few pit stops happening tomorrow I would imagine.
“And hopefully we can use that to get ourselves a bit further up.”
Norris was similarly cautious after qualifying fourth, dismissing suggestions McLaren had been in the hunt for pole despite the team showing improved pace compared to Monaco.
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“Really? Delusional,” Norris said when it was put to him that some had expected McLaren to fight for pole.
“I don’t know if it’s progress. It’s just we’re back to where we were pre-Monaco.
“I think everyone got pretty downbeat after Monaco because it was such a shocker of a weekend.
“We just returned back to the form we had in Montreal. We qualified P3 there.
“I think we’ve taken steps forward. We brought some little parts that seem to have helped fractionally.
“And at the minute fractions of a second can make a difference. So I think we’re happy. We took a step forward.
“We’re happy to be back on track. But it’s not like the car was beautiful out there.
“So we take it as a team. I think it’s nice that we could bounce back after a disappointing weekend. But we’re still three-and-a-half tenths off a pole. And that’s a big amount.
“So happy. But not happy enough.”
Asked whether McLaren could fight Russell and Hamilton for victory in the race, Norris was blunt in his assessment.
“No,” he admitted.
“Three-and-a-half tenths off around this track. You just need grip. You need a good rear.
“And this is something we don’t have today. So very unlikely.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was more optimistic about the team’s race prospects, particularly with high degradation and multiple pit stops expected to reduce the importance of starting position.
Stella said McLaren had shown a much stronger level of performance than in Monaco, though he suggested Mercedes had not revealed its full hand during practice.
“Well so far, definitely a more competitive weekend compared to what we had in Monaco,” he told Sky Sports.
“First point in practice we have shown decent performance I would say. But we knew that Mercedes, they were sandbagging a little bit. They don’t need to use their all strength in practice.
“Today in qualifying we saw that we are back in a situation where four teams are very close. There’s not much, I think, one tenth of a second between P3 and P7.”
He added that the red flag brought out for Charles Leclerc’s crash in Q3 had cost Norris a potentially better lap.
“We’ve been a bit unlucky with Lando. The first lap in Q3 he was 250 metres before the flag, when it was red flag. And that was a strong lap,” Stella admitted.
“And when you know that you have a strong lap on the board in the second lap, you can push a little bit more.
“So I think there was a possibility to fight for P3, if not the first row today. But that’s what it is.
“Good position for the race tomorrow with Lando. At this track with the high tyre degradation and the multi-stops, definitely there’s not much influence of the starting position.
“It’s more about race pace and tyre management.”
Stella said McLaren was still working to understand its 2026 tyre behaviour, but felt the team remained in position to fight strongly on Sunday.
“Last year we had invested hugely in the development of the car in this area. I would say this year, frankly we are still learning a little bit from a tyres point of view,” he added.
“And we are still developing the car to make sure that we have the options to put the tyres in the right range.
“So there may be some work still to do. But from what we have seen in practice, we are definitely in the game to do well tomorrow.
“And that’s what we want to do.”
The Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix gets underway at 3pm local time on Sunday (11pm AEST).
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