McLaren were relatively lacklustre by their lofty standards at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as neither car scored a podium finish.
The British team are still pushing for their first Constructors’ Championship since 1998 and are leading Ferrari with two races to go.
McLaren have improved significantly this season but failed to take full advantage of their good pace by tripping over themselves at some races.
They have also made some mistakes such as Lando Norris running off the track in Brazil which all but ended his slim championship hopes.
Oscar Piastri made a critical error that cost him valuable time and championship points, which Peter Windsor wasn’t happy with as he told the Cameron Cc: YouTube channel.
Oscar Piastri missed his grid box and got a five second time penalty in Las Vegas
Formula 1 cars are incredibly difficult to see out of which can make accurately finding your grid spot very difficult.
Piastri qualified in seventh place at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit as McLaren struggled for raw speed in the cold conditions.
The Australian matched his teammate Lando Norris who sat in sixth place on the grid, setting a time under half a tenth quicker than Piastri.
He just missed his grid box in a similar way to Sergio Perez at the Mexico City Grand Prix which also awarded him a five-second time penalty.
READ MORE: Ted Kravitz says Oscar Piastri ‘could hardly keep the smile from his face’ after one Lando Norris question
Windsor explained such a small error shouldn’t be happening as the teams are spending a lot of money to develop their cars.
He said: “There are a lot of things out of your control in Formula 1, but one of the things you can control is where you stop on the grid at the end of the formation lap. And if you’re not sure, you get one of your guys to hang out the pit wall saying, ‘this is the point.
“How can you not… Something as elementary as that, I find that. And you I think of the amount of time and money they spend trying to find a 10th of a second in the wind tunnel or the CAD or whatever it is, or the rear suspension or the rear brake cooling, all these things on the car. And the driver actually doesn’t put the car in the right place on the grid.
“Actually, you can say it’s almost unprofessional because the one thing a racing driver should be able to do is stop in the right place.”
Oscar Piastri has been very impressive this season at McLaren
Piastri has developed a lot over his Formula 1 career since making his debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix last season with McLaren.
The Australian has been impressively ice-cool and took his first Grand Prix victory in Hungary this season amid some chaotic team orders.
He has also shown impressive racecraft, passing Norris on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix. Piastri feels ready to fight for the championship but may have some stiff competition from Norris, Red Bull and Ferrari next year.
Piastri has lacked some pace over a stint but he has shown all the positive signs of a driver able to win races and compete at the front.
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