Oscar Piastri is hopeful of a stronger showing from McLaren in Abu Dhabi this weekend than the team experienced a week ago in Las Vegas.
Both Piastri and team-mate Lando Norris were eliminated in Qualifying 1 in Vegas, while the latter crashed out of the race on Lap 3.
While Piastri raced as high as fourth, he ultimately finished 10th after a late stop owing to earlier contact with Lewis Hamilton.
It capped off a difficult weekend for the team but is not a performance that is expected to repeat in Yas Marina.
“We should be much more competitive,” Piastri said.
“I think being a new circuit, at a drag range that we’ve struggled at throughout the year, we knew [Las Vegas] would be a tough one for us.
“Our pace, the pace that we had in the race, was much more representative of what we had available through the whole weekend. We just got a few things wrong in qualifying in particular.
“That was a decent way to end the weekend,” he added of his Saturday night performance.
“We should be more competitive than that here, hopefully, and hopefully, we can be fighting back at the front properly.”
While McLaren has made upgrades throughout the season and has drastically improved the car, it continues to favour medium and highspeed content.
Changes to Yas Marina in recent years have seen several slow-speed sections removed, swinging the needle a little further towards the MCL60’s strengths.
It’s a circuit in stark contrast to Las Vegas, which had long highspeed corners and otherwise comparatively slow corners on a low grip surface.
By finishing 10th, Piastri scored a single point for the team, though picked up the fastest lap bonus to double that return,.
Meanwhile, Aston Martin managed 12 to reduce the gap to McLaren, with whom it is battling for fourth in the constructors’ championship, to just 11 points.
“If we go out and do what we’re capable of, and the car’s potential is, then we should be okay,” Piastri suggested of that fight.
“But we still have to go out there and do our job and get the most out of what we’ve got.
“Hopefully, we can be quick, fighting well and truly at the front, and the result will take care of itself.”
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