Oscar Piastri: The McLaren chassis is generally less efficient.

      The start of the season was extremely unsuccessful for Oscar Piastri, as he didn't even start in the first two races, but in Japan, he made it to the podium, and he could have even fought for first place, although there is no doubt that the Mercedes car is still faster than the McLaren, which was confirmed by Kimi Antonelli's second consecutive victory.

      Part of this advantage is explained by the fact that Mercedes engine builders initially have a better understanding of the characteristics of their new power unit, and therefore, the factory team uses it more effectively than the customer teams McLaren, Alpine, and Williams.

      To some extent, Mercedes' advantage may be reduced due to the recently adopted amendments to the technical regulations, which will come into effect starting from the Miami race, however, Piastri is not particularly optimistic about this, as he believes that the W17 remains the best car in the championship.

      "I would like to say yes, but in reality, I don't think so," quotes Oscar from the Australian publication Speedcafe. "I think Mercedes understands better how to act to fully unlock the potential of this power unit.

      Certainly, in Japan, we handled the task well and managed to squeeze the maximum out of our car and engine, although for Lando Norris, my teammate, that weekend also didn't go well. However, we definitely lag behind in terms of downforce and overall chassis efficiency.

      Overall, I am confident that the gap related to understanding the characteristics of the power unit will narrow somewhat, but mainly the speed deficit in Japan was not explained by this. Our car is not as good as the Mercedes W17, and solving this issue will be more challenging."