Yeah, you're stretching it in a big way. Slight qualifying edge? Are you serious?
You claim to be a McLaren fan right? Not a Norris fan? So this should be easy for you....
Norris, by his own admission, screwed up a lot of qualifying laps last year, correct? Does this mean he lacked the speed or just had to refine his approach? Because Norris said he had to change his approach slightly, which he's done to excellent effect this season, but the speed was always there.
Now, let's talk about Piastri, in just his 2nd year, there is no doubt lately he has failed to improve his 2nd run in Q3, so maybe. change in approach is required, does that mean he doesn't have the speed? Let's see qualifying results all the way back to Miami....
Miami - Lando -0.08 with car advantage - Team admitted Oscar had a 0.15 sec car disadvantage - so this one's Oscars - Team admission remember?
San Marino - Oscar -0.017 - only lost that starting position due to grid penalty, but that doesn't mean he didn't do a faster lap than Lando right?
Monaco - Oscar -0.118
Canada - Lando -0.103
Spain - Oscar no Q3 time - his fault, just like Lando had last year sometimes
Austria - Lando 0.33 - This is where Oscar lost a very strong lap time to a marginal track limits call - but rules are rules, no drama, but that wasn't a true speed differential - you'll remember, of course, as a neutral fan, Lando has lost Q3 laps to track limits in the past too, it didn't suddenly make him slower
Worth noting this was around the start of Oscar starting to not really getting the best out of his 2nd Q3 laps, no excuses, is what it is... but read on, the gaps aren't exactly damning...
Silverstone - Lando -0.207
Austria - Lando -0.022
Belgium - Lando -0.046 - only an extremely biased individual wouldn't agree that Oscar was faster all weekend, had traffic on final Q3 lap
Zandvoort - Lando -0.499 - great final lap by Lando, best of the season, Oscar stuffed his last lap, the gap prior was 0.1 sec
Monza - Lando -0.109
So, let's see....
Oscar faster in 2 sessions
Oscar faster in 1 session, car corrected
Lando faster by under 0.05 sec in 2 sessions
Lando faster between 0.1 and 0.12 sec in 2 sessions
So that's 7 sessions where the qualy gap, no matter who in front, was under 0.12 sec
Lando faster by 0.207 in 1 session
Now the outliers:
Lando faster by 0.33 in 1 session - Oscar lost fastest time
Lando faster by 0.499 in 1 session - excellent lap by Lando, no improvment by Oscar
Oscar NR in 1 session - I think he aborted both laps? I can't recal
So, tell me, as a neutral fan, how is that not a close qualifying battle, other than the 2 outliers and one error that Oscar has made, pretty much in line with Lando last year?