Oscar Piastri revealed that the McLaren squad was “not convinced” it could fight for pole position in Monaco on Saturday before the Australian secured a front-row spot for Sunday’s Formula 1 Grand Prix around the historic principality.
Piastri finished Friday’s practice sessions with no clear picture of where his team sat in the fight for pole, claiming that Mclaren “could be first, [or] could be 10th.”
Ultimately, Piastri wound up second, a tenth and a half adrift of pole winner Charles Leclerc.
However, qualifying proved to be as tight as Piastri predicted and the same back between him and Leclerc stretched back from second to sixth in an enthralling Saturday session.
“I think we came into this weekend pretty confident that we could be in the fight for pole and the win again,” Piastri said reflecting on the second weekend in a row that McLaren fought for pole position.
“I think going into qualifying, maybe we weren’t as convinced this week. But no, it felt good. Yeah, pretty hooked up in qualifying.
“We were struggling a little bit through the weekend. We didn’t really know quite where we sat.
“A bit of work to do after FP3, but the car felt very good in qualifying. I think the last lap of Q3, there’s a few corners I wish I could have again.
“But yeah, when you’re pushing so hard, it’s kind of inevitable that there’s going to be mistakes here and there.”
Before invoking Max Verstappen’s famous Miami Grand Prix comments, Piastri pondered whether mistakes through Turns 5 and Turn 10 could have cost him pole position.
“It’s pretty pointless saying if you could have done,” Piastri said.
“Max summed it up very well a few weeks ago. I won’t repeat it, but it’s a good analogy and I think everybody can say the same.”
After the ifs buts and maybes, Piastri finds himself secured in a front-row slot for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
However, with overtaking nigh-on impossible around Monaco, can he realistically challenge for the win?
“I mean, the run to Turn 1 is always your best chance at any track,” the Australian said.
“Here [in Monaco] obviously it’s a very short run, like we know.
“Yeah, the strategy, you can try something. Because unless there’s a massive pace difference, which I’m pretty sure there won’t be, then overtaking is impossible here.
“So yeah, it’ll be won or lost in the pits probably.”
