The suffering of the Papaya Army doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. Their hopes of the team’s comeback have hit snooze for another weekend as both drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri saw themselves out of Q2. Despite this setback and going to the race starting P19, only ahead of Logan Sargeant, Piastri has found a silver lining for the team as the MCL60 continued to struggle in hotter conditions.

The Aussie, after qualifying, justified the effort put in by himself and his teammate. While he himself failed to advance by just 0.159 seconds, his teammate was only seven hundredths behind the last Q2 spot. Piastri talked about how the team is always close to proceeding ahead in the qualification. According to Piastri, the team had difficulty keeping up with the pace throughout the entire session today, regardless of any changes in the track. He further added that the competition was incredibly tight, and the team faced the risk of elimination in Q1 every weekend while also having the potential to qualify for Q3.

Further, talking about the positives amidst all these negatives, the driver was quoted by the Speed Cafe as saying, “We’re struggling a bit with these hotter conditions. In general, it’s not sort of one place where we’re struggling massively; it’s just little bits everywhere.”

“P2 yesterday looked more encouraging; maybe our fuel load or engine mode was maybe a bit better than others at that point. But it was also the coldest track conditions and we looked more competitive as well.”

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Certainly, the fluctuations in McLaren’s performances can be noticed. The upgrade packages coming ahead promise a near overhaul of the car. But the fans remain skeptical and will only believe once they see it for themselves.

Oscar Piastri pushing Lando Norris with more intensity

Lando Norris had Daniel Ricciardo as his teammate for two years at McLaren. The time between the two drivers wasn’t pleasant. Lando often criticized his teammate for not being challenging enough over the course of his stint. But, four rounds into the season, he already holds a different opinion of his new teammate, Oscar Piastri.

Lando, complimenting his new teammate, as quoted by Crash, said, “He’s a lovely guy, down to earth, a normal guy, a worker. So it’s good fun. Different, I guess, to Daniel. He’s very fast at the same time, so he’s probably been pushing me a little bit more than in the past couple years.”

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The comment comes as an attack on those rooting for the reunion of the two drivers. What do you make of Lando’s performances during his time with Ricciardo? Does the Briton not give due credit to the Australian?