Oscar Piastri claimed he “struggled to find a rhythm” at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, but does not believe it is due to his disrupted running during FP1 at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Australian, who was considerably off the pace of Lando Norris throughout practice, missed the start of the weekend-opening session after pit stop practice exposed an issue with the rear-left corner of his McLaren, necessitating an entire rebuild.

However, when he did venture out on circuit, he had a close skirmish with the wall and could not get within half a second of his team-mate.

The Briton topped FP2, whilst Piastri again struggled, finishing the final Friday practice hour almost seven-and-a-half tenths back in fifth.

Despite the unforeseen circumstances limiting his early track running, Piastri maintained it was not critical to his lack of pace in Singapore.

“It wasn’t an ideal start for the day, but I don’t think it’s [the rear corner issue] really impacted much,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s been a difficult day, definitely, but I don’t think it was down to that.

“So, yeah, just struggled to find a rhythm, really. The pace in the car looks look strong, just not really been able to unlock it that well. So definitely some things to go into.”

‘The gap to Lando is bigger than what it should be’

Piastri seemed unsure as to what exactly was causing his lack of comfort in the car, around a circuit in which rhythm is key to strong lap times, but he did highlight the underlying pace in his McLaren, even if so far only Norris has managed to access it.

The two-time grand prix winner will hope he can arrest those difficulties and add to his victory tally after taking a sensational win in the previous round at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“I’m just not very comfortable with it at the moment, for whatever reason,” Piastri explained after the second practice session in Singapore. “I didn’t feel my lap was great, haven’t felt that any of the laps have been great.

“So I just need to try and find a little bit more, try and get a bit more comfortable with the car, I think, is probably the first thing, and then really try and find the limit from there.

“Some things to work on. Our pace looks not too bad, still somewhere towards the front, but obviously the gap to Lando is bigger than what it should be. So, just try to find me more.”