The McLaren team faced a challenging day at the Monaco Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris struggling to match the pace of the front-runners. Piastri, in particular, encountered a tough opening day, finishing ninth in FP1 and seventh in FP2, with a significant gap of over a second to the top times. This performance has left the team with a lot of work to do overnight, as Piastri himself admitted, "We made a bit of progress for FP2, but we went from a second-and-a-half off to a second off. So it’s been a tough day for us for sure. Some things to find overnight definitely."
The Australian driver acknowledged the difficulty of the situation, stating, "It felt okay. Not as speedy as we would like unfortunately."
The team's struggle is not limited to Piastri's performance. Lando Norris faced an electrical issue during FP2, which forced him to withdraw from the session. McLaren Chief Technical Officer Rob Marshall confirmed that the team is still investigating the cause of the failure, stating, "He had an electrical problem on the car and it shut down. But we’ve not had enough time to go through the data and find out exactly what’s gone wrong yet. It could be anything, but it’s electrical."
The focus now shifts to improving the car's performance, particularly in the first half of the lap, where McLaren is losing time to Ferrari and Red Bull. Marshall highlighted the team's confidence in making improvements, saying, "I think we’re confident we can make it a bit better. I think we were struggling in the initial part of the lap. And then when it went through sector two and three, we started to be a bit more competitive. So I think maybe that’s tyre temperature or maybe something else. But we’ve got a bit of stuff to work on certainly in the first half of the lap."
Despite the challenges, Piastri remains optimistic, stating, "I don’t have any great ideas at the moment, but we’ll try and find something for sure. Because we need to."
The team's efforts will be crucial in the remaining practice session before qualifying, as they strive to bridge the gap and improve their performance on the streets of Monte Carlo.
