Piastri “proud” as he marks 50th start with dominant pole

Oscar Piastri lit up Bahrain on Saturday night, converting free practice pace into pure qualifying domination as he seized his second career Pole Position ahead of his 50th Grand Prix start.

With the confidence of being the fastest driver in FP3 under his belt, expectations for Piastri’s Bahrain Qualifying campaign were high.

Instantly getting to work, the McLaren duo secured an early 1-2 during the opening stage of qualifying, with Piastri’s time of 1:31.392s just two-tenths short of his teammate as he returned to the pitlane.

As a precaution, Piastri rejoined the session with four minutes on the clock, launching for one final Q1 attempt, however, he ultimately had nothing to worry about, advancing through to Q2 without a fuss.

“Yeah, very happy. I think the car all weekend has been in a good place,” Piastri said.

“Maybe not in FP1, but I don’t think anyone’s car was very good in FP1—since then I felt very comfortable all weekend. 

“This morning, given the track conditions, it was a pretty solid performance and the car was very similar this afternoon, so I’m very, very happy with the job we’ve done, I’m proud of the job that I’ve done. 

“I feel like I’ve put in a lot of good laps when I needed to and to come away with pole is obviously very nice.”

It was an interesting start to the second stage of qualifying, with Red Flags flying in the opening minutes of Q2 when Esteban Ocon crashed out at Turn 2.

The disruption came at an awkward moment for the entire field, with almost every driver on a flying lap or gearing up to launch for one, however, being unable to record a time until the session resumed with 11 minutes on the clock.

Lighting up the timesheets on return, Piastri set two fastest sectors on his way to the top of the table, with his 1:30.454s sitting one-tenth clear of his teammate.

That lap left him and McLaren with enough confidence to make the call to not send Piastri out again, and it was the correct decision, with the Australian advancing through to Q3 as the fastest driver.

“I think the timing of the Red Flag was quite awkward because it was right on the limit for being able to do two runs and no one had set a lap at that point,” he explained.

“And being at our end of the pit lane, getting out of the pits can take nearly five minutes sometimes, so you have to factor that in. 

“We went pretty risky and just went for the one lap and it was enough obviously. 

“That was a tricky point that you needed to get right, because otherwise your weekend was pretty much in the bin. 

“I’m glad we managed that.”

Piastri stepped it up a notch when it came to the final top-ten shootout, leaving nothing on the table as he battled it out for Pole Position.

Playing the chasing game, Piastri watched and waited as his closest competitor George Russell impressed on the timesheets.

Russell initially put over a second between himself and the man in second, however, provisional Pole wasn’t his to keep when Piastri, the only driver who could outpace the #63, went a tenth quicker to set a new benchmark of 1:30.233s.

After a temporary lull, Russell again toured the Bahrain International Circuit with blistering pace, as did Charles Leclerc when both drivers slotted into the top two, however, it was Piastri who proved untouchable ahead of his 50th Grand Prix start.

Securing his second Pole Position of his career, Piastri maximised the lap with a time of 1:29.841s, putting one-tenth between himself and Russell despite running slightly wide through Turn 13.

The second-running McLaren had far less to celebrate, with Norris forced to settle for a sixth-place start tomorrow morning after wheelspin out of Turn 1 cost him over a tenth of a second.

“I felt confident out there pretty much all weekend, to be honest,” Piastri said. 

“FP1 was… an experience for us all. 

“I think it felt more like a rally car than an F1 car, but from then on I’ve felt really comfortable with the car. 

“In FP3 we had good pace and yeah, qualifying, you know, the others caught up a little bit closer than what I wanted. 

“But yeah, still delivered the laps when it mattered, which was the most important thing at the end. 

“So very, very happy.”

But while Russell set the second fastest time of the hour, P2 wasn’t his to keep when the Mercedes driver received a one-place grid penalty for failing to follow the race director’s instructions, leaving his garage before the announcement of a resumption time in Q2.

As a result, the McLaren driver will share the front row with Charles Leclerc as the duo eye down the five lights tonight.

“Everyone’s got very different tyres up and down the grid,” Piastri said.

“George has only got one hard and one medium, Charles and I have got two mediums, Max has got two hards, so it’s a bit of a mix. 

“We’ll see what everyone goes for tomorrow because I think it’s a bit of a lottery at the moment. 

“I think it will definitely be more exciting from a strategic point of view, but for my sake, I hope not too exciting.”

Lights out for the Bahrain Grand Prix set to take place at 01:00 AEST.

Image: McLaren

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