Piastri admits he cannot explain 32-second pace gap to Norris at Zandvoort

Oscar Piastri has admitted he is at a loss to explain why he cannot match Lando Norris’s pace in the 2026 McLaren, after finishing sixth at Zandvoort — 32 seconds adrift of his team-mate, who won from pole for the second consecutive weekend.

Norris’s back-to-back victories in Budapest and Zandvoort, both from pole position in the heavily-upgraded MCL40, have opened a 55-point gap over Piastri in the standings. The reigning world champion sits seventh, trailing Norris 13-4 in their qualifying head-to-head this season (sprint races included), and has not stood on a podium since Miami in May.

“Unfortunately it’s not the first race where the pace just hasn’t been there,” Piastri said on Sunday. “Lando has just won the race by quite a lot, so I think the car is in a good place. It’s been quick the last two weekends. I think these two tracks suit the car well. It’s just for whatever reason, I’ve not been able to get the pace out of it.”

Piastri’s difficulties are not entirely without context. The 2026 regulations have reduced downforce levels, producing a lower-grip car — precisely the conditions in which the 25-year-old has historically struggled. His title challenge last season unravelled at Baku, Singapore and Mexico City for similar reasons, and the transition to the new rules appears to have amplified that weakness.

There were brief signs of promise at Zandvoort: Piastri topped SQ2 and Q1, and qualified fourth, just 0.142 seconds off Norris and fractions behind Mercedes pair George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. But the race told a different story.

“In qualifying this weekend I felt much more comfortable,” Piastri said. “Through Q1 and Q2, okay, Q3 I didn’t quite maximise it, but I was there in the fight. In the race, the story just wasn’t the same at all. So, yeah, I think that’s the biggest difference.”

Piastri had moved up to third by lap three after overtaking Russell at Turn 7, but a slow 5.4-second pitstop on lap 19 dropped him to fourth. He then lost further ground to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton before crossing the line sixth.

When McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was asked to account for Piastri’s struggles, he began to address the issue before his response was cut short, indicating the team is still working to identify the root cause.

Piastri’s last win came at Zandvoort in August 2024 — the same circuit where, twelve months on, he finds himself searching for answers.