The Australian will start one place ahead of teammate Lando Norris after outqualifying him for the second consecutive race weekend.
Piastri admitted the result reflected where McLaren currently stands against its rivals after struggling to match the pace of Mercedes and Ferrari throughout the day.
“I think we are a bit behind at the moment,” Piastri said.
“I think the order is probably about where it should be. And I think it’s just all the corners, really.
“We’re not weak in one particular place. I think we probably did a better job today maximising the power unit, which was good.
“But yeah, we’re just lacking grip at the moment.”
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Piastri’s qualifying effort followed a difficult Sprint race earlier in the day, where he crossed the line sixth after being forced to hand a position back to Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli following a late restart incident.
Antonelli ran wide at the final corner when the race resumed after a safety car, allowing Piastri to move ahead on the inside.
However, with the Italian managing to keep two wheels on the track before the start line, McLaren instructed Piastri to return the place under the restart rules.
The Australian ultimately finished sixth behind Antonelli after giving the position back.
LAP 17/19
🟢 GREEN FLAG 🟢
We’re back racing! Russell retains his P1, meanwhile Piastri moves into P5 and Antonelli into P7 🔼#F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/HVLAEvgA58
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2026
Reflecting on the race, Piastri once again acknowledged McLaren simply do not have the pace to challenge the front-running teams.
“I think we just need to find a lot more lap time,” he said.
“I think it was pretty clear that we just didn’t have the pace to match Ferrari or Mercedes. And we were quite a lot quicker than everyone else.
“So that’s probably the biggest thing.”
The decision to make Piastri relinquish the place prompted debate after the race, with 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve suggesting the rules should be reviewed.
“Antonelli went off the track, so at that point, you’ve given up the right to stay ahead,” he said on Sky Sports.
“He was more than five car lengths behind the car ahead. You’re supposed to stay within five car lengths, and he wasn’t any more.
“So what should Piastri have done? Hit the brakes and create mayhem behind?
“Something has to be looked into there.”
Despite the setback in the Sprint, Piastri still ended the day as the leading McLaren driver in qualifying, finishing fifth with Norris one place further back in sixth.
Norris had earlier finished fourth in the Sprint but also admitted the team lacked the pace to challenge Ferrari and Mercedes.
“Of course we’ve learned some things and there’s some things we could have done better yesterday, but I think yesterday showed we kind of overachieved,” Norris said.
“Because our pace to the Ferrari was just nowhere near quick enough today.”
He added that tyre performance and car balance were proving difficult to manage around the Shanghai circuit.
“They can get the tyres to work better and they have a much more stable car and we’re struggling quite a bit with that here.”
In qualifying, Norris believed a slightly cleaner final lap might have improved his position but accepted McLaren’s current standing in the order.
“My final sector has been pretty poor and we’ve been losing a little bit on the straights to some of the other cars which we need to understand why,” he said.
“But, like a good tenth, tenth and a half and a tenth and a half is almost three positions today.
“Give or take, I think, where we are now, where we deserve to be. And where we should be.”
While acknowledging Ferrari appeared to hold an advantage, Norris insisted McLaren would still look to challenge in Sunday’s race.
“It looks close to the Ferrari and we definitely want to give them a fight tomorrow. But it was clear today they have advantages, which we struggled to get on top of.
“And yeah. It will be hard to challenge them. But you never know and we’ll give it a good shot.”
Antonelli becomes youngest ever F1 pole sitter at Chinese GP
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