McLaren have locked out the front row for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Lando Norris leading the 1-2. Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, is still waiting for his maiden F1 pole. On this occasion, he found himself just 0.022 seconds behind his teammate.
“Of course very happy for the team and obviously a good result to be starting on the front row,” Piastri said post-session.
“But when it’s so close regardless of who it is you always can’t help but be a little bit frustrated. A good day honestly. Yesterday afternoon was pretty tricky for us so it’s nice to bounce back a little bit today and have a good result.
“I think it’s a very long run down to Turn 1…and gives an opportunity for the slipstream behind.
“It’s a tight turn, I’ve seen a lot of action there in the past. (…) Starting fourth last year, I had a clean start and got to second. So, I know that there’s a lot that can happen at Turn 1. (…) We’ll see what happens but I think we’ve got a quick car underneath us. This weather is going to be very different tomorrow by the looks of things so we’ll see how that pans out for everybody but I think there’s a good chance.”
Asked whether he felt he got the chance to prepare for qualifying as he would’ve liked, Piastri replied, “Yes and no.
“I mean, I think FP1 was good. There was good learning in that yesterday. I think we’re starting from a great position tomorrow. So, yeah, I think maybe not quite as much as I would have liked, but I would say 90 percent of it. So, no, feeling pretty confident for tomorrow and see what we can do.”
Piastri also touched on how the changing weather conditions have affected his driving—after a sweltering Friday, qualifying day brought cooler temperatures and even some light rain.
“I mean, it definitely feels nicer to drive when you’re two, two and a half seconds a lap faster than yesterday,” Piastri admitted.
“Friday was quite tricky trying to manage the tyres, even over one lap. You can destroy them—or could have destroyed them basically in half a lap. Today was a little bit more forgiving, let’s say. But tomorrow, I think it’s going to be much more like yesterday in terms of weather. So, yeah, it changes the game a little bit.”
