Why Piastri is suddenly being thumped by his teammate

F1‘s return to the Hungaroring this weekend marks two years since Oscar Piastri’s maiden victory.

But in stark contrast to the last two years, where McLaren recorded dominant 1-2s, Piastri and the Papaya squad are unlikely to be contenders for the top of the podium.

That is unless the new upgrades the team is bringing turn the car into a world-beater overnight, and that’s not an inconceivable prospect.

When the team last rolled out upgrades ahead of the Miami weekend, they finished 1-2 in the sprint race. If you cast your mind back further to 2023, major upgrades introduced mid-season brought the car instantly from the mid-pack to the front.

But even if these upgrades – believed to be an entirely new floor as well as other aerodynamic improvements – do allow McLaren to close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari, it’s no guarantee Piastri will be the man at the front.

For much of the season, the Aussie has been half a step behind teammate Lando Norris. All things being equal, Norris has generally been the slightly quicker driver, and the stats reflect it.

Norris leads the head-to-head across all qualifying sessions 10-4, but the average gap (scaled to a 100-second lap) between the pair is just 0.049sec. Their average starting position is also 4.6 to 5.6 in Norris’ favour.

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It’s not much better in races. Norris leads 8-3, and his average finish is more than a place ahead of Piastri – 3.9 to 5.4.

But 10 race meetings into the season, we’re starting to develop an understanding as to why.

Piastri’s smooth as silk driving style does not suit this new era of engine regulations, and finding a fix is going to be harder than just braking a bit later or stomping on the loud pedal a bit earlier.

This new era of engine regulations are without doubt the most complicated in history, particularly around how and when electrical power is deployed.

Using an unexplainable metric, the car’s electronics perform hundreds of thousands of calculations a second to determine if electrical power should be deployed now or saved for later, how much should be deployed and how quickly, all while travelling at speeds north of 300km/h.

A smoother driving style might mean Piastri is on the brakes a couple of metres earlier than Norris, but with less force. In theory, it means the car is more stable, which allows him to carry more speed through the corner.

In the previous generation of cars, this was an advantage as it meant he was more gentle on his tyres, and quicker over the course of a race.

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But in this new gen, where battery deployment is king, it’s a disadvantage.

By braking slightly later, Norris puts more force through the brakes, which means there is more energy to be harvested and stored in the batteries, and more energy to be deployed down the next straight.

When Norris arrives at the next braking zone, that extra energy translated into a top speed a few clicks quicker. Arriving quicker means he has to brake more, which converts into extra electrical energy, then more deployment, a higher top speed, and the cycle continues.

The damage caused by Piastri’s collision with Charles Leclerc means it’s difficult to compare their race pace from the Belgian race last weekend, but the trend translates into single-lap speed.

Overlaying speed data from the third part of qualifying shows the pair were evenly matched until the long flat-out section towards the bus stop chicane at the end of the lap.

Piastri ran out of battery power around 320km/h and his acceleration tapered. His top speed was 325.5km/h, while Norris hit 331km/h.

The final result was a lap time of 1:44.801 for Norris, and 1:45.016 for Piastri – a gap of 0.215. Norris was third-fastest (but started 13th after a grid penalty), and Piastri was seventh.

Given driving styles are instinctive, changing them can take some time. There is no doubt the more races run under these engine regulations – we’re only 10 races in – the more black and white a solution will become.

In the meantime, Piastri will no doubt be continuing to work in the McLaren simulator in an effort to wrap his head around driving a car that will continuously do things without him asking.

Practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix begins on Friday night, although Piastri will be watching from the garage as he hands his car over to McLaren development driver Leonardo Fornoroli for a mandatory young-driver session. He will return in practice two.

Qualifying is on Saturday night, before the race at the usual European race time of 11pm (AEST) Sunday.