Oscar Piastri admitted that many teams are close to each other after seeing the results of the first day of practice, and hopes McLaren can be “near the front”.
The Aussie driver finished FP1 in P3 and FP2 in P5, after what his teammate Lando Norris called a positive day for the team. He continued by saying that the difference between a podium position and barely making it into the points is tight.
“It’s a lot closer than I expected. Mercedes looked quick, and Fernando [Alonso] looked quick. It’s always a bit hard to judge on a Friday, but I think we’re sort of around the points.”
“With the teams we’re around, being near the podium or near 10th is very much a possibility, so hopefully we can stay near the front of that mix.”
Piastri also added that he thinks Red Bull didn’t show all its cards on Thursday and is curious to see the RB20’s real performance today, during qualifying.
“Red Bull don’t look quite as quick as we thought, we’ll see how many sandbags come off tomorrow,” Piastri told F1.com.
Just like Norris, the Australian believes McLaren is in a good spot, but there are still some things to fix and improve, even though the windy conditions didn’t help.
“I think we’re in a decent place. Still a bit inconsistent and up and down, so it’s hard to know exactly how we will fare, but it looks a similar story for everyone.
“There are some runs we need to look at in more detail as to why they were how they were, both good and bad, but I think the overall feeling of the day is pretty positive.
“It was tricky out there, and tomorrow is going to be more of the same.”