McLaren’s Oscar Piastri had a forgettable Saturday’s qualifying run after getting surprisingly knocked out in Q1, a couple of hours after topping the FP3 leaderboard.
This means that Piastri will start today’s race from 17th place.
Despite a good showing throughout practices, McLaren’s driver was unable to deliver a valid-second flying lap that would move him out of the elimination zone.
He lost slight control over his car in turn 12 which then led to his car bottoming out over track’s kerbs.
Up until that moment, the Australian had been over a second faster than his previous best, regretting the mistake that ultimately led to his first Q1 elimination of the season.
The young Australian 2-time Grand Prix winner labeled his late Saturday as a ‘very poor mistake’.
“It’s just a tricky circuit but I don’t think today was down to it being tricky. It was just I made a very poor mistake, and that was it.”
His Q1 exit was compared to a previous year’s Norris’ exit when the British driver had to start a race from 19th place and make his way up the grid in 5th place.
“We had a similar kind of position for Lando last year, so I’ll make sure I do my homework on how he went through the field and try and do the same.”- Piastri said.