Piquet: Jaguar one second slower than fastest in Hong Kong FE race

Piquet, who started 15th, retired from the race at the end of the first lap after what he described as "wheel banging" through Turns 1 and 2 caused damage to his front suspension.

His latest non-finish means Piquet has not scored points in the last four races of the 2018/19 season, but Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans maintained his record of scoring at every race by climbing from 16th on the grid to finish seventh.

Asked if Evans's rise through the field showed Jaguar's underlying race pace, Piquet told Autosport: "Race pace is one thing.

"Compared to the guys around him [Evans], P1 and P2, we're around a second slower.

"You can't get lucky from starting P19 or whatever, there's accidents, this and that. The race isn't just about being lucky, you want to contend for podiums.

"For that you need to be up front, have a quick car and it's one thing driving in the dry. If conditions keep changing, you need a strong system that will cope with these variables all the time."

A comparison of fastest lap times between eventual winner Edoardo Mortara and Evans showed a pace deficit of around 0.25s.

For large portions of the weekend it looked as though FE's 50th race would be its first wet one, but the track remained largely dry but greasy in areas come the start on Sunday.

Practice and qualifying was, however, run in wet conditions.

Asked if Jaguar's attempts to get on top of its qualifying weakness were made more difficult by the conditions, Piquet added: "It is but there are teams out there coping with the change of conditions and doing better.

"It's not a coincidence that HWA and Venturi [both use Venturi powertrains] were up front. There must be something in common to facilitate this and it's not all of a sudden four drivers qualifying well.

"It's clear there's some areas we have to improve. This race has highlighted things we need to improve in the software and in the codes.

"We knew there was work still but when the situation and conditions because this way it amplifies [the problems] what we have."