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McLaren won the Miami Grand Prix with Lando Norris but arguably had a shot at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with Piastri were it not for a communication error form the pit wall in qualifying.
There were near misses in Canada, Austria, and last time out in Britain where strategy choices cruelled the hopes of both drivers.
On each occasion, a different element has been the defining factor.
In Montreal, it was a tight strategy call for Norris under a Safety Car; at the Red Bull Ring it was a (debatable) track limits breach for Piastri in qualifying; and in Silverstone it was strategy indecision.
Those errors, in the face of strong competition, have proved costly.
“In general, as we’re now fighting back at the front, we’re competing against teams that have been in this position for an incredibly long time, in some cases over a decade,” Piastri said.
“It’s been a while since, as a team, we’ve been regularly fighting in those positions.
“It’s not an excuse for us to be able to get it wrong, but we are inexperienced compared to some of our competitors.
“So we’re learning a lot as we go along,” he added.
“We’ve had a few races where we’ve really taken advantage of our opportunities, and maybe they haven’t been commented on as much, but I think that’s part of the game.
“When you’re right at the front, these missed opportunities can be the difference between winning a race or finishing second, which of course has a bit more weight than the difference between a P6 and a P7.”
Arguably, the British Grand Prix was the biggest faux pas for the team, as it left Piastri on track a lap too long in rapidly changeable conditions – a decision that cost him an entire pit stop as conditions deteriorated.
Later in the race, the call to swap Lando Norris onto soft tyres for the final stint instead of the set of new mediums he had available likely cost him a shot at victory.
There, the team’s earlier effort hit Piastri again as, had he been closer, he too might have challenged for victory as he scorched around the track seconds faster than his rivals courtesy of his new set of medium tyres.
“It would have been tough,” the Australian said of his chances of victory in Silverstone, were it not for the additional lap prior to his first stop.
“At that point of the race, my options being the second car on track were always slightly unfavourable.
“In certain scenarios, yes, probably I could have won the race, but I think for a lot of people in that race, there’s a lot of things they could have done a lot better.”
In the days since the British Grand Prix, McLaren has analysed its race, leaving Piastri comfortable that it understands its shortcomings.
“I think on both sides of the garage, I think we’ve worked very well together to identify where we went wrong,” he explained.
“The fact that we were in the hunt for that… I don’t think we were, before the rain came, we were not the fastest car on track, we were fourth and fifth.
“Through the weather conditions and whatnot, we were able to get into a good position and, yeah, unfortunately, we made some errors from there.
“But I think the opportunities are always very, very tough to come by and I think we’re creating some of our own.”
To Piastri, that is a positive given where the team was little more than 12 months ago, and even where it was at the start of the season.
It’s that rationale that staves off the frustration that could easily result from the near misses.
“Our memory is not that short,” he said.
“It was only 12 months ago that we finishing P3 and P4 was an incredible result for us.
“Of course, we can’t live off that forever and we need to appreciate that we’re in a much different position now, but also the opportunities have always been very different.
“Some of the circumstances have been in our control, and I think we’ve been very good at analysing that.
“A fair share of the circumstances have been out of our control as a team.
“So I think just focusing on what we need to improve for ourselves and not being caught up on the things that are out of our control, that’s a massive part of it.”
McLaren is third in the constructors’ championship, seven points down on Ferrari in second having reeled in class-leaders Red Bull Racing by nearly 40 points over the past six events.
