Oscar Piastri has shed light on why he continues to opt against running McLaren’s front suspension upgrade.
For the Canadian Grand Prix, McLaren introduced a revised front suspension upgrade.
Only Lando Norris used it in Canada, which was the case again in Austria.
While the suspension tweak isn’t necessarily a performance gain, it seems to have improved Norris’ confidence behind the wheel of his McLaren.
Norris outpaced Piastri in Canada, but a mistake in Q3 left the British driver down the order.
Norris beat Piastri to the win at the Red Bull, with the pair evenly matched on race day.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, Piastri spoke about the new suspension and why he continues not to use it.
“I’ve not used it ever yet,” Piastri told media at Silverstone, where Crash.net are in the paddock.
“I think the thing is, for me, it’s not an upgrade. It’s just something that is different.
“It makes some things potentially a bit better. It makes some things a bit worse. If it was just all benefits, I would be putting it on with no questions asked.
“But for me, I’ve not really struggled with that kind of particular feeling.
“The year’s been going pretty well, so I’m more keen to just keep the car consistent and worry about how we get the most out of the set-up and the other upgrades we actually have than this change to the suspension.”
Piastri loves Silverstone
Piastri will be hoping to clinch his first win – or first podium – at Silverstone this weekend.
The 24-year-old admitted that it’s one of his favourite circuits.
“I think for me, Silverstone is easily one of my favourite tracks of the year,” he explained.
“I always say Spa is my favourite, but here is probably second or third. And yeah, it’s a track I’ve got a lot of memories at.
“I’ve raced here, it’s probably the circuit I’ve raced on the most, I would say, in my whole career.
“Admittedly, in F4 it was about half of the track, or no, it was the national circuit, so it was about four corners. So I know four corners really well, the other 15 I have taken a bit more.
“But no, it’s a track I’ve always had good memories at. I’ve had good success here in the past, and it’s just as a track to enjoy driving on, and it’s one of the best there is.
“So yeah, it’s always nice coming back here.”
