Oscar Piastri has denied that his standalone intention is to beat McLaren team-mate and championship rival Lando Norris in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.
After his FP1 crash, Piastri had been on the back foot in Singapore, consistently behind team-mate Norris, and significantly off the pace of Red Bull and Mercedes.
This changed dramatically in qualifying, as he surged to third in the dying moments in Q3, setting up the tantalising prospect of three teams fighting for victory in Marina Bay.
With Max Verstappen winning the last two races and the sudden surge in performance from Mercedes, Piastri’s title battle with team-mate Lando Norris looks to be expanding.
Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, Piastri said he was happy with his performance, considering the pace of Russell and Verstappen, his focus lasered on the duo.
“Yes. I think my first lap of Q3 felt reasonable. It certainly didn’t feel four-tenths off bad,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“So I just don’t think we had the pace tonight, which is a little bit of a surprise for us. It has been very tight through all of practice, but I think we were relatively confident going in.
“So, some things to look at and see where we’re lacking. But we’ve not had the easiest last couple of weekends.
“So it’s not a huge surprise in some ways because of how it’s gone recently, but I do think we felt after practice we had a better chance.”
Piastri had been obliged to abandon his opening lap in Q2 due to a peculiar yellow flag that was waved when Alex Albon attempted to get out of his way at Turn 1.
When asked whether that had an impact on his qualifying session, Piastri played down the impact. However, he took aim at the FIA over the rules.
“Anytime on a street circuit you don’t do laps is frustrating, and I did feel like through Q1 I was playing catch-up a little bit. But ultimately, it didn’t really affect much,” he replied.
” It was obviously frustrating to have a yellow flag thrown for someone getting out of the way.
“There’s been a lot of adjustments on the yellow flags and stuff like that.
“But I think there’s still some tweaking to do there, because Alex did the best job he could to get out of my way, and it ended up costing me a lap anyway. So, some things to look at there.”
Piastri aiming to challenge duo ahead in Singapore
Asked if he can make progress in the race, and take advantage of McLaren’s underlying tyre management advantage, Piastri revealed his low expectations.
“I hope so, but it’s very tough to overtake around here,” he acknowledged. “You need a fair bit of extra pace to get past someone. So we’ll see if we’ve got that tomorrow.
“But the long running has been kind of tough for everyone with red flags, and no one’s really done that much.
“So I wouldn’t say we’ve got more confidence than we had going into qualifying for the race, but we’ll see what’s possible.”
Pushing hard in qualifying, the Australian brushed the wall en route to securing his second row grid spot, admitting he was unaware of the risks he took to turn his weekend around.
Focusing on those ahead of him, Piastri’s focus has now shifted beyond his team-mate, the Australian hinting at a changed mindset for Singapore, with bigger picture thinking now crucial.
“I think tomorrow’s race is just all about trying to do the best I can,” he assessed.
“There’s a lot of things that can happen around here. It’s a tough race — Safety Cars and stuff like that. So, I’ll do the best that I can.
“Obviously, if there’s an opportunity to finish higher than I’m starting, then I’ll try and take it.
“I’m not just going to settle for the position I’m in or any position just ahead of Lando.
“I want to maximise the race I can get because any extra points I can win is only going to help me. So, just try and do the best job I can and see where we end up.”
READ MORE: Why Red Bull is still ‘in the game’ despite woeful F1 Singapore GP record
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