Oscar Piastri admitted his performance in Friday’s qualifying for the United States Grand Prix wasn’t his “finest” as he rued mistakes that left him only 10th.
Piastri’s McLaren team-mate, Lando Norris secured a place on the front row for Sunday’s race, with just 0.450s covering the top nine positions in the final Q3 shootout.
However, Piastri was cut adrift from the rest of the top 10 – led by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – with errors landing him almost three-tenths of a second shy from ninth-placed Sergio Perez.
A back-to-back podium finisher and winner of the Qatar Sprint, Piastri wasn’t best pleased with a performance that could halt his recent podium run on Sunday.
“It just wasn’t the best qualifying from myself, some decent laps, but not enough,” he said. “The last lap in Q3 was quite poor.
“Clearly the car has got some pace in it obviously we’ve got another chance tomorrow to try and do a better job. But, yeah, not my finest qualifying.”
Oscar Piastri (AUS) McLaren MCL60. 20.10.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 19, United States Grand Prix, Austin, Texas, USA, Qualifying Day – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: requests@xpbimages.com © Copyright: Coates / XPB Images
Piastri previously had an off-track excursion during Friday’s solitary practice session, which, coupled with his poor run in Q3, paints a troubling weekend for the rookie Australian.
“Without the mistakes, the pace is generally quite good,” he admitted.
“It’s just very difficult to put it together really, yeah, and a couple of big mistakes on the last lap.
“So yeah it’s just consistency, it’s super bumpy around her and that makes it extremely tough to not make mistakes and to be consistent.”
Piastri noted the different tarmac surfaces around COTA also made it difficult to get to grips with the circuit.
“There’s a couple of bits that are resurfaced and really grippy and smooth,” he added.
“Then there’s the stuff from last year which is less grippy and less smooth, then there’s the stuff that looks like it was laid when the track first opened that has got no grip.
“So that’s another challenge, but the same for everyone.”
Piastri will have another qualifying session to put right the wrongs of Friday, with the Sprint Shootout determining the grid for Saturday’s Sprint race.
