McLaren’s Oscar Piastri has claimed his third career pole position in Qualifying for the Imola GP.
McLaren has been leading the way in all sessions this weekend and looked like the strongest contender for pole position heading into Qualifying. During a disrupted and incident-marred session, Piastri kept his calm and easily advanced into the final showdown in Q3.
After the first run in Q3, the McLaren Driver had to concede provisional pole to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Piastri turned things around on his final run, putting his McLaren just three hundredths ahead of Verstappen.
The Championship leader has put himself in the prime position to extend his Championship lead and aim for his third consecutive victory.
Piastri on his Qualifying
In the post-qualifying press conference, Piastri noted that it was difficult to find his footing due to the disruptions caused by the accidents of Tsunoda and Colapinto.
When it became time for Q3, however, the Australian had locked in describing his last lap as ‘a good one’.
“It was good. I was happy with it. I feel like in Q3 I really found my groove. It wasn’t the easiest of days, really. FP3, I think everyone put the Soft tyre on and started scratching their heads a bit, and then qualifying itself obviously had a lot of red flags, a lot of long delays. It was hard to build into a rhythm.”
“But I think by Q3 I found my feet, and the last lap of Q3 was a good one. “Yeah, I thought it was going to unravel at the last corner with a few people trying to start their laps, but it was enough to get through there and still get pole.”
Nearly missing out on Pole
Despite traffic in the last sector, Piastri picked up pole by a slim margin over Verstappen, something he thought would be a tall order before his last run in Q3. Between his runs in Q3, Piastri analysed his previous laps and found room for improvement.
“I thought it was going to be tough to beat. I felt like my first lap was very strong.
The McLaren driver explained, “I think when I got back to the garage, I saw that there were a few things that could have been a bit better. And yeah, found a little bit in a few places, and that was enough in the end. So yeah, felt like I definitely had to find a bit more for that final run, and I think I did a good job doing it.”
Thoughts on the new C6 tyre compound
The Imola GP marked the first time Pirelli brought the new C6 tyre, the softest compound available to the teams. However, the new compound had teams struggle to improve, with some even opting to mount the medium compound in Qualifying. The McLaren driver would have chosen this option if he had enough sets, as he struggled with the softer compound.
“It was a struggle, to be honest. I mean, we all put it on in FP3, and I don’t think anyone really went any faster,” he said. “My car certainly felt worse when I put that tyre on. But when you have four of them for qualifying, you don’t have many options.”
“So it was definitely a struggle. Had to be pretty careful through the lap to not destroy it straight away. And obviously, George qualified on the Medium at the end, which, if I had a few more, I probably would have wanted a similar thing.”
Expectations ahead of the Imola GP
When asked about his expectations for the Imola GP, Piastri pointed out that keeping his McLaren ahead at the start is crucial, as overtaking poses a challenge on this track.
“I think as long as I can get a good start, then confident. You know, it’s a difficult track to overtake on. I think our pace has been strong. Our long run pace yesterday looked very encouraging. So yeah, as long as I can get a good start and have a good first lap, then that would be good.”
