Piastri explains ‘pretty average’ lap after P12 in Mexico FP2 as he aims for ‘more consistent’ Saturday

Oscar Piastri labelled his soft tyre run during second practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix as “pretty average” after ending the session down in P12, leaving the Australian to target a “more consistent” day on Saturday.

While McLaren team mate Lando Norris handed his car over to Pato O’Ward for one of the squad’s rookie outings in Free Practice 1, Piastri was in action for the opening hour of running and claimed P4 on the timesheets.

However, after returning for the second session later on Friday, the championship leader did not quite put his soft-shod lap together and found himself down in 12th – his effort eight-tenths off the pace-setting time of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – while Norris took fourth place.

Asked for his thoughts on the day after jumping out of the car, Piastri responded: “It was okay. I think, yeah, the lap on softs and low fuel was pretty average, so I’m not surprised with the lap time.

“I think we tried a lot of things, we’ll go through and have a look at what worked, what didn’t, but overall I felt reasonable. We’ll see what we can tune up for tomorrow and try and make things just a bit more consistent is the biggest thing.”

It follows on from a tricky weekend for Piastri last time out in Austin, during which the 24-year-old recorded a DNF in Saturday’s Sprint after a Lap 1 melee before finishing Sunday’s race back in P5. Verstappen, meanwhile, claimed victory and closed the gap down further in the championship standings.

In terms of whether he and the team have since been able to understand why they had a deficit at the Circuit of The Americas, Piastri said: “Yeah, there were a few things that we identified from Austin.

“I think obviously it was a pretty messy weekend as well, so I think [there were] plenty of things that we found – all small things but when you put them all together they add up, so I think we’ve got a good handle on last week.”

And while Verstappen continued his run of form by ending Friday on top at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Piastri offered a positive answer when quizzed on whether McLaren can be a match for Red Bull at the venue.

“I think so, yeah,” the nine-time race winner commented. “It’s going to be tight like always, but I think we’ve got a good car underneath us.”