Oscar Piastri revealed he suffered a sudden tyre scare in the closing laps en route to victory in the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint.
The Australian cruised to top spot in the 19-lap race at the Losail International Circuit, to take a small chunk out of team-mate Lando Norris’ title lead, the Brit finishing third.
Max Verstappen finished fourth to give Piastri an outright second place in the Drivers’ Championship standings, with the McLaren looking strong ahead of qualifying.
The event has sparked controversy with Pirelli’s decision to impose a 25-lap mandatory tyre window, due to previous tyre wear concerns at the circuit.
And after the race, Piastri revealed that he was feeling issues with his rubber, which triggered some anxious moments in the cockpit before the chequered flag fell.
“Yeah, like five or six laps to the end, I think it was front left was starting to vibrate a bit and I hadn’t locked up or anything,” he explained to media including Motorsport Week.
“So it’s never a great sign when you start getting vibrations out of nowhere. So I think it was a similar thing for other people as well. So yeah, we’ll see if there’s any concerns with that. But that was pretty much the only concern.”
The race saw Piastri’s first top-three finish since Monza in September, and spoke of his relief that it was nice to feel out in front again.
“Yeah, it was nice,” he said. “It was nice to have some clean air again, it makes a pretty big difference. Yeah, just nice to get off to a smooth start to the weekend really. Yeah, the car’s been good so far and I feel like I’ve been able to gel with it pretty good.
“So yeah, obviously the kind of short part of the weekend’s over and now the real stuff begins.”
Piastri: Only ‘mistakes or things out of our control’ the issue in recent F1 lull
Piastri has a good record in Doha, and was asked whether there is something about the circuit that suits him.
“I mean, it’s definitely a different circuit,” he replied. “Incredibly high speed, much higher grip surface as well. But I think honestly, the last couple of weekends have been not bad in terms of pace.
“It’s just been mistakes or things out of our control going wrong. So I think this weekend the pace has been probably a little bit stronger, but everything’s just been smooth.
“So I think that’s the biggest difference.”
With qualifying a matters of hours away, Piastri was questioned if McLaren will make any set-up alterations to his MCL39 beforehand.
“I’ll find out shortly, but the car’s been good so far,” he said. “So if it is, it’ll be tweaks rather than anything major.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri wins Qatar GP Sprint to keep F1 title dream alive
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