Following the qualifying session for the F1 British GP, Oscar Piastri will line up on the front row for the race. Though unable to beat Max Vertsappen, the current championship leader did manage to out-qualify his McLaren teammate. This may prove to be crucial in Piastri strengthening his championship lead.
Following the qualifying session, Piastri reflected on his performance and shared his expectations for the race.
Strong in qualifying but not fast enough for pole
The Australian McLaren driver looked strong throughout the qualifying session and held onto provisional pole until Max Verstappen impressed with his final flying lap of Q3. Piastri shared how although he was pleased with his final lap, he did not feel that he had maximised the session.
“It was a good lap. I was very happy with it, but I kind of felt like every run, the track was improving a bit. So, I felt like I probably needed a bit more, which was correct. The second lap was a bit scruffy, couple of moments that caught me a bit by surprise.”
Piastri then explained how he is eager to review the session to fully understand his performance. He cited the wind as a possible factor, though was reluctant to pinpoint this as the sole cause.
“I always hate blaming wind, but I need to see if it was the wind. But also, maybe trying a bit too hard in a couple of places as well to make up for it. Overall, pretty happy. It’s been tight all weekend, especially through qualifying, so P2 is not a bad result.”
Pressure to perform in such a competitive field
Qualifying at Silverstone was very tight. The five fastest drivers were only separated by two tenths of a second, meaning that the drivers were under pressure to perform well.
Piastri reacted to the closeness of the fight for the front row at the British GP. He shared his surprise that although the different teams are generating similar lap times, the cars all have different strengths and philosophies.
“For me, what’s the biggest surprise is how each car is generating their lap time. You look at the speed traces and they all look completely different, but they end up basically at the same point at the end of the lap. So that’s been quite interesting to get our heads around.”
Four different teams made up the fastest five cars in qualifying. Piastri shared that the most surprising performance among his competitors was the improvement in Ferrari.
“I’m not that surprised that Max is quick here. It’s quite similar to Suzuka, similar conditions to Suzuka. Clearly, they found some pace from yesterday. I think the big surprise was Ferrari yesterday, and even this morning.
“So not a huge surprise that it was so tight. Maybe how many teams were involved was a surprise, but it’s been tight in nine out of ten qualifyings this year.”
Hoping for overtaking opportunities tomorrow
Starting on the front row of the grid for the British GP, Piastri shared his hopes for an interesting race. The McLaren driver is particularly looking for lots of overtakes.
“I hope so, because there wasn’t a whole lot [of overtakes] in Japan. Let’s see. I think the tyres will be a bit more interesting than they were in Japan potentially, and also with the different strengths of different cars that we’ll see which seems to be the better compromise tomorrow.“
Though hoping for a more interesting race overall, Piastri only needs one overtake on Verstappen to be satisfied.
“If it’s good for one overtake, then I’d be pretty happy. But let’s wait and see.”
Sizing up the competition
As Piastri will line up next to Verstappen’s Red Bull for the British GP, the Australian driver reflected on their different car characteristics.
“For us, what’s been impressive is some of the high-speed performance that they [Red Bull] can continue with, even with the light downforce. So, let’s wait and see tomorrow. Of course, I hope that the higher downforce works a bit better in a few areas, but honestly, we really won’t know until tomorrow.”
Though downforce does play an important role in these F1 cars, Piastri shared that this is not always a deciding factor that dictates performance.
“It’s also been interesting with other teams, it’s not always just been the higher the downforce you have the quicker you are in all the corners. Some of the corners we’re still slower than the Red Bull and Max. So, it’s not that straightforward, but I think it’s going to be an interesting thing to see tomorrow.”
