Piastri "came alive" for maiden F1 pole in China despite "scruffy" lap
Oscar Piastri clinched his maiden grand prix pole in China after edging out George Russell and McLaren team-mate Lando Norris
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri says he is "pumped" to grab his first-ever pole in Formula 1 after finding a burst of pace in the deciding Q3 shootout at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Piastri emerged as the lead McLaren driver over the Shanghai weekend, salvaging second place behind Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in the Saturday morning's sprint race while team-mate Lando Norris struggled with tyre wear. Norris looked the stronger of the two papaya cars during Q1 and Q2, but in the final top-10 shootout the Australian found the pace to clinch his first grand prix pole.
The Australian's first Q3 lap of 1m30.703s would already have been good enough for pole, but he then cemented his position with a second effort of 1m30.641s, 0.081s clear of George Russell and over a tenth ahead of Norris, who aborted his second lap after slipping up.
"I'm just pumped to be on pole," Piastri said after admitting he was screaming in his helmet on the in-lap. "In Q3 I just found a lot of pace. In Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling and the car just came alive in Q3 - and I think I came alive in Q3 - so I'm happy with what I did at the end, even if the laps were still a little bit scruffy."
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Hamilton cantered to a first sprint win after enjoying the benefits of clear air to reduce how quickly his front tyres faded. Piastri is hoping he can similarly benefit from a clean getaway to boost his chances of converting his first pole into a third grand prix win.
"That is hopefully going to be a help. I am going to make sure I keep that clean air. But I was pretty happy after the sprint. I think we did the most that we could have. I would have been happier with one spot higher, but with how the race turned out, I couldn't have asked for much more. I feel like we learned a lot this morning, and looking forward to trying to put that to use tomorrow."
Photos from Chinese GP - Sprint Race & Qualifying
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