McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri lamented making “too many mistakes” on his Q3 runs as he qualified a “disappointing” sixth for his home race in Australia.
Piastri had the measure over team-mate Lando Norris in two of the three practice sessions and trading times with the Briton through the first stages of qualifying.
But while Norris produced a final effort good enough to secure fourth on the timesheets – ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – Piastri had to settle for sixth position.
Both McLaren drivers will be promoted one spot on the grid, though, as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has been handed a three-place drop for impeding Nico Hulkenberg.
However, speaking prior to that news, the Australian admitted that he had been fortunate to avoid slumping down the order having failed to optimise his last run.
“I think it’s been a pretty solid weekend so far,” Piastri reflected.
“I think Q1 and Q2 looked strong. Q3, first and foremost, I made too many mistakes and that was the biggest reason of why I am where I am.
“I think we could have done a couple of things a bit better in terms of out lap preparation too, but there was also my input in that out lap preparation as well.
“I feel like in terms of position, I was somewhat fortunate that I’m not further back, but yeah, not a terrible result, just a bit disappointing because I know there was more on the table.”
Piastri revealed how getting the tyres into the correct operating window at the Albert Park Circuit has been the biggest obstacle to the drivers extracting lap time.
Asked whether it was graining or temperature that was the main concern, Piastri replied: “Getting it to the right temperature. It’s been a bit strange.”
“Everyone had massive graining yesterday but then it feels like we’re all struggling to get the tyres to warm up for the first lap in qualifying.
“So trying to find the right windows has been quite tough for everybody. So yeah, just trying to get the temperatures in the right windows has been the biggest key this weekend.”
Piastri has conceded it will be “tough” to make up ground from his starting berth and has his sights set on ensuring he beats both Aston Martin and Mercedes cars.
“I think we looked pretty strong in our race runs yesterday, but the cars around us also looked strong, or at least the cars in front of us,” he assessed.
“So I think to beat Red Bull and Ferrari, we’re going to need to find something extra or have a bit of good fortune.
“But yeah, I think honestly if we can finish around where we start and not go further backwards, that would honestly be a good day for us tomorrow. So we’ll try our best.
“It’s optimistic stuff, I know, but I think that’s just where we sit at the moment and I think it’s been honestly a good step forward in terms of we seem to be a bit quicker than Mercedes and Aston around here, which is better than we have been in the last two rounds.”
The McLaren driver suspects that Pirelli’s choice to go aggressive with its Softest compounds in the range this weekend will prompt a management-orientated race.
“I think it’s going to be quite a strategic race,” he predicted.
“I mean, when you look at the cars, the tyres coming off the cars at the end of FP2 yesterday, I don’t think anyone was having a great time with them.
“So it’s going to make the race interesting and nobody’s run that Hard [tyre], so we’ll see what that has to offer.
“But yeah, it should be quite a strategic race and definitely one of tyre management, I would say, rather than say Saudi where it was just outright pace.
“So a bit of a different dynamic which presents opportunities for us and also the people around us.”
