Oscar Piastri admitted the pace didn’t fully materialise when it mattered most in qualifying for the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, as his last lap in Q3 was disrupted.
The Australian driver secured third on the grid in Austria, with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari splitting the McLaren pair in Spielberg.
Piastri’s first Q3 effort proved to be his only representative lap, ending over two tenths behind team-mate Lando Norris, who stormed to pole with a commanding performance.
As the 24-year-old prepared for his final flying lap, his run was compromised when Pierre Gasly spun at Turn 10, forcing the McLaren driver to abort his attempt.
Hoping others wouldn’t improve to bump him off the second row, Piastri held onto third but was left frustrated, convinced there was more pace on the table.
Speaking after qualifying, he reflected: “I mean, it was changing a little bit throughout practice and qualifying, to be honest.
“I think some of my weaker corners at the start of the weekend became a bit stronger, some of the better ones became a bit weaker.
“So it wasn’t a clear thing that was different every single time.
“I think it’s a difficult track to hook everything up on every lap, and maybe that was slightly the difference today.
“It felt like I was in the game. The first lap of Q3 was a little bit messy and then, of course, I didn’t get to do the second one.
“So yeah, I think there was a lot more potential out there today – it just didn’t show.”
The championship leader admitted: “I think through all qualifying, I was missing that last tenth, but yeah, obviously not getting the chance to do my final Q3 run was quite frustrating.
“Sometimes those things are going to happen. I was quite happy that I didn’t lose more spots by not doing that.”
Piastri confident in race pace despite qualifying challenges
Despite his disappointment, Piastri admitted he had felt largely comfortable in the McLaren throughout the weekend.
“Pretty comfortable, I mean, I think FP1 was a little bit of a messy start, but then I felt pretty good through the practice. And qualifying, again, felt quite good,” he said.
“It’s very difficult around here to get that perfect lap because there’s a lot of corners that have gravel on the exit, and you’ve got to be pretty careful there.
“But there’s also a lot of corners that you miss an apex by 5cm one way or the other, and you’ve lost a couple of tenths easily.
“So it’s not the easiest track to hook up, even though it’s short, and it just kind of felt like I didn’t quite do that today, so a bit of a shame.”
When asked about McLaren’s latest upgrades, Piastri added: “It doesn’t feel that different in the car, but I think on the timing sheets, it looks good. So that’s all we ask for.
“And I think the pace this weekend has looked very, very strong. So hopefully that translates to tomorrow as well.”
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