Oscar Piastri – Syndication Server

Verstappen apologizes to Piastri for Abu Dhabi clash

Max Verstappen says it was was important for him to apologize to Oscar Piastri for hitting him at Turn 1 at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, even if he didn’t agree with his subsequent penalty for it. The Dutchman got a good start and had …

The Dutchman got a good start and had already overtaken Carlos Sainz when he attempted a move down the inside of Piastri under braking for the first corner. Verstappen took to the inside curb but was never fully alongside and tapped Piastri into a spin — also pirouetting 360 degrees himself — to put the McLaren driver to the back of the field.

“Launch was good and then I tried to grab the inside, and I quickly realized, once I committed to it, that the gap was closing and I wanted to try and get out of it, because I didn’t want to cause a crash with Oscar,” Verstappen said. “Unfortunately we still clipped each other, but I already apologized to Oscar. It’s not what you want to happen and especially not with him — he’s a great guy. It happened. It’s just a bit unfortunate.”

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Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, one of a multiple handed out for the same infringement during the race, but suggested he was unhappy at the punishment.

“Honestly, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m just happy that the season is over,” he said. “For me, the most important thing that I had to do is just apologize to Oscar, because I have nothing to gain, nothing to lose. I went for it. It didn’t work out. And especially also for him that we both spun. It’s not nice — he’s a friend of mine, so I don’t want to have any, like, weird feelings or whatever, going into the break.

“I don’t understand anything [about penalties] anymore, but it’s fine, whatever. I’m not gonna get angry about stuff like that. It’s not worth my time. Just have a break. Like I said, the most important thing is that I apologize to Oscar, and that’s it.

“I think when you’re in that position, you’re focusing on the car ahead, you commit. How I feel it as well … when you start first or second, you never really looked behind. So I went for it, and then I realized, ’S***, he doesn’t see me there.’ So I was trying to get out of it, but then we still clipped. Of course, that is on me, but I was expecting maybe 20 seconds, 30 seconds, I don’t know, stop-and-go? It’s maybe something to talk about for next time.”

McLaren locks out top two spots in final F1 practice of the year

Oscar Piastri led a comfortable McLaren one-two ahead of teammate Lando Norris in the final practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, while title rival Ferrari remained almost half a second off the pace. The final practice hour of the season was …

The final practice hour of the season was a subdued affair, with conditions in the late afternoon unrepresentative of the night-time qualifying session later today or Sunday’s twilight race, with the ambient temperature creeping about 104 degrees F.

After some early exploratory laps, Piastri set the pace on a fresh set of soft tires at 1m23.433s, beating teammate Norris by 0.193s, inverting the order of McLaren’s one-two in FP2 on Friday night.

Lewis Hamilton unexpectedly slotted into third after improving on a second performance run on a used set of softs, though he was still 0.39s off the pace, while Max Verstappen, who complained of a lack of bite from his front brakes, was 0.411s off the pace in fourth.

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The best constructors’ championship contender Ferrari could muster was fifth with Carlos Sainz, who was 0.438s slower than Piastri’s leading McLaren. Charles Leclerc, who carries a 10-place grid penalty into the grand prix for a battery change, was ninth fastest and 0.665s of the pace.

“We are nowhere. Nowhere,” Leclerc said over team radio when told of his gap to the front.

George Russell was a confused sixth, the Mercedes driver 0.642s off the pace and around 0.2s adrift from the leading five cars. The Briton, who started last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix from pole position, was mystified as to his lack of pace.

“I’m not sure what’s going on,” he radioed early in the session. “The car feels OK, just very slow.

“I don’t really know why the pace is so bad. Everything feels reasonably normal, it’s just all slow.”

Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were closely matched, the Haas teammates separated by just 0.001s and less than 0.02s slower than Russell. The German and Dane wedged themselves ahead of Leclerc, who trailed by 0.004s.

Sergio Perez completed the top 10 in the second Red Bull Racing car, lapping 0.85s off the pace and 0.439s slower than teammate Verstappen.

Yuki Tsunoda was 11th for RB at the head of a super tight group of eight cars spread over less than 0.2s.

Alex Albon put his Williams 12th and just 0.035s off the pace, with Pierre Gasly following for Alpine a further 0.03s adrift.

Jack Doohan, who teased that he’d left plenty of time on the table on Friday in pursuit of a smooth build-up to qualifying, improved massively overnight relative to his teammate, lapping just 0.026s slower than Gasly.

Valtteri Bottas was 16th ahead of Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll, the trio split by 0.052s.

Zhou Guanyu was 19th and 1.235s off the pace, the Chinese driver around 0.1s ahead of Williams rookie Franco Colapinto at the back of the pack.

Piastri looks ahead to playing his part in constructors’ title showdown

Since its introduction in 1958, 170 chassis constructors have sent cars out to compete in the Formula 1 world championship for constructors, with a total of 15 winning the constructors’ championship. Ferrari holds down the record for most titles …

As fate would have it, this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will see a constructors’ championship showdown between Ferrari and McLaren. Currently holding down a 21-lead over Ferrari, McLaren can take its first constructors’ crown since 1998 if drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri can conjure up 24 points Sunday afternoon at the Yas Marina Circuit.

“If we can cap it off with the world constructors’ championship this weekend, that would be the icing on the cake,” said Piastri, who is currently fourth in the drivers’ standings with 2024 grand prix victories at Hungary and Azerbaijan

In his second year as a McLaren F1 racer, Piastri is proud to be a member of the organization formed in 1963 by Bruce McLaren. Formed in 1963 and with 12 drivers’ world championships to its credit, Piastri is eager for the same sort of success with the team that McLaren legends James Hunt, Nicky Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton have attained.

“It’s very, very cool to be a part of McLaren,” said the Australian. “When you look back to before I was born and the history of the team, it is very incredible to be joining the list of McLaren drivers now and the list of world champions that we’ve had as a team. I think even more myself and watching McLaren while I was growing up, I’ve always liked the very, very old McLaren cars that you couldn’t miss out on the track. Now to be, hopefully this weekend, part of that next chapter of McLaren’s history is very exciting.”

While teammate Norris came closest to knocking Max Verstappen from his drivers’ championship pedestal this season, Piastri has a lot to be satisfied with from his sophomore campaign.

“I think it has definitely been a good year. Compared to last season, we’ve taken a nice step forward as a team. I also think for myself, personally, I feel like I’ve taken a step forwards, as well,” Piastri said. “I’ve got a couple of wins and a lot of podiums, so it has been a hell of a lot of fun, for sure. It has been a great season.”

Being such a high-profile driver in a high-profile F1 team, has Piastri found it difficult to focus at times in such a globetrotting series?

“It is a little it,” he admitted. “I mean we spend so much time on the road and at races, you often don’t have that much time to do much else. But it is good fun. I think for me, I’m here because I want to win races and become a world champion. I think staying focused is pretty straightforward. Of course it is a tiring season. It is a very long season we have nowadays, but I think when you’re fighting right at the front, it makes being motivated very easy.”

It takes a lot of behind-the-scenes effort to give Piastri his best shot. Steven Tee/Motorsport Images

And he’s still impressed by how much effort goes on behind the scenes in getting McLaren’s two cars onto the grid on every grand prix Sunday.

“Yes, there is a lot more behind the scenes that I guess people don’t see on TV,” said Piastri. “I think ‘Drive To Survive’ has probably shown a little bit of that in the last few years. You know we have a lot of commitments outside of driving — the amount of work we do with the media, with our sponsors and stuff like that. We probably drive the car for half the time we spend doing all the other things involved.

“Even just the traveling can be tough. On TV we magically appear from circuit to circuit, but it takes a long time to get to all these places. Especially this tripleheader has been brutal, going from Europe to Vegas and then all the way across the other side of the world for the next weekend. It’s been a busy few weeks, for sure.”

But the intensity of the competition makes it all worthwhile, he says.

“It has been a lot of fun fighting with Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes this season,” said Piastri. “I think at times it was probably a bit closer than we would have liked, but I think it’s really great for the sport. It has been a long time since we have had such an open season and so many teams fighting for victories. More than seven drivers have won multiple races and it’s the first time in a lot of years where there have been so many different winners. It’s been exciting to be a part of.

“It’s very difficult out there. Every track we go to I feel like we’ve been quite consistent through the year. We have a different challenge or different challengers each weekend, so it is never easy. But as a fan, I think it’s great to watch. Even as a driver, knowing that you have a chance of winning each weekend — or at least being in the fight for it — is very exciting.”

Piastri battles with Mercedes’ George Russell in Qatar. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

With the competition fierce up and down the grid all season long, Piastri spoke about what it takes to find any edge he can.

“I think it all just hard work, really. There is the team around you trying to get the most out of the car. Obviously, it’s not just down to the driver, it’s down to the car, as well. But I think working together with the team to try and get the best combination of the two is very important. I think it’s a lot of hard work. Of course there is your training and looking out for your energy. There are a lot of things where I don’t know if you can necessarily gain an edge, but you can lose an edge. I’m trying to make sure that you are on top of all those things. The biggest thing, by far, is working with the team to be as prepared as possible when you’re on track.”

With the curtain about to come down on the 2024 F1 season, Piastri, still keen to optimize the past GP of the year is already putting an eye on 2025

“In 2025, hopefully, I’ll be fighting for both world championships. Of course it depends on what kind of car we have and what car our rivals have got. I think that’s definitely the hope and certainly what I’ll be preparing for in the off-season.

“I think this year I have made some really good steps forward from my rookie season. Especially in the races, I feel like we’ve taken a good step forward. However, I also feel that I’ve made too many races too difficult for myself in qualifying. I’m needing to make progress in the races through the field. I think that if I can tidy that up and start a bit higher up in most of the races, that would make life easier. I think that’s probably the biggest area to improve on for next year.”

Norris defied team to hand Piastri Qatar Sprint victory

Lando Norris was told by his McLaren team that he shouldn’t try to let Oscar Piastri by as he relinquished victory at the end of the Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix. Exiting the final corner, Norris slowed and moved to the inside to give Piastri a …

Lando Norris was told by his McLaren team that he shouldn’t try to let Oscar Piastri by as he relinquished victory at the end of the Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Exiting the final corner, Norris slowed and moved to the inside to give Piastri a clear run at the line, returning the favor for his teammate handing him victory in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Norris then revealed he had been told by the team not to switch the positions because George Russell was too close behind Piastri, but he ignored that request.

“It was probably a bit closer than what I was wanting, but I planned to do it since Brazil,” Norris said. “Just what I thought was best, probably a bit sketchy, the team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it and we did.

“So honestly I don’t mind, I’m not here to win Sprint races, I’m here to win races and a championship — but that’s not gone to plan. So I did the best we could and I look forward to tomorrow.”

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Norris says he had only told his race engineer that he planned on giving the position up if he had the opportunity, and he believes few other teammates would work in a similar way.

“It wasn’t something that was really discussed. I didn’t have to do it if I didn’t want to,” he said. “I told my engineer that I would do it so he was the main one that probably knew about it. I told him before the race if we have a bit of a gap and we’re first and second, and then I would try and do it.

“So he knew and he was telling me not to do it because I think the gap to George was probably a bit too fine for their liking. But Oscar did his part in trying to help me get closer to Max in the championship and give that opportunity a go.

“I deserved that right to have a chance and that’s how we have to work as a team, when one of us has that opportunity. And I returned the favor today.

“I don’t think any of us are proud of necessarily winning a Sprint race or we’re also not too unhappy on giving up a Sprint race win. But we work together well as a team, and I think that’s probably one of our biggest strengths over everyone is how well we work together.

“I don’t think any other team would do such a thing and help each other as much as we’ve done this year for one another. It’s our strength, and we’ll continue to do that.”

Norris hands Piastri Qatar Sprint win

Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two finish in the Qatar Sprint after pole-getter Lando Norris handed his teammate the lead on the final lap. Norris made the decision to switch places exiting the final corner of his own volition as payback for …

Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two finish in the Qatar Sprint after pole-getter Lando Norris handed his teammate the lead on the final lap.

Norris made the decision to switch places exiting the final corner of his own volition as payback for Piastri handing him victory in the Sao Paulo sprint last month, when he was still in contention for the drivers’ championship.

Norris nailed his start from pole to hold the lead into he first turn, but front-row starter George Russell was challenged by Piastri, starting third. The Australian took the Briton side by side around the outside into the first turn before scything down his inside into Turn 2 for a McLaren dream start to the race.

By then Norris had bolted, however, capitalizing on the scrap behind to put 1.2s on the field by the end of the first sector, leaving Piastri vulnerable to the slippery Mercedes behind.

Russell made an attempt to take back the place on lap 4, using DRS down the main straight to draw up to the back of the McLaren, but Piastri was aggressive in closing the door into he Turn 1 right-hander.

“He just f***ing turned into me,” Russell fumed, though the stewards took no notice of the move.

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By now the threat to the one-two finish was clear, and Norris was asked to slow to keep Piastri within range of his DRS as a defensive play against Russell, neutralizing the Mercedes driver’s own DRS advantage. The slowed pace brought Sainz into the fold, having held fourth off the line, but prevented any changes of position in the DRS train.

The enforced ceasefire was briefly broken on lap 14, when Norris stretched his legs to set what was then the fastest lap of the sprint and pulled 1.4s clear of the pack again. Russell attempted to seize the chance with another DRS-assisted move down the inside, but again he found the door firmly shut.

“F*** me that was late — twice now,” he complained, but with no ensuing action from race control.

The Briton had one more opportunity on the final lap, when Piastri again fell behind the leader, but again he couldn’t force an error, forcing the Mercedes driver to closely follow the leaders home around the lap.

It was with him just 0.6s behind Piastri that Norris decided to hit the brakes out of the final corner to pull off a finely judged switch in a show of gratitude for his teammate doing the same in Brazil.

“It was probably a bit closer [with Russell] than what I was wanting,” he said. “But I planned to do it since Brazil. It’s just what I thought was best.

“It was probably a little bit sketchy. The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it, and we did.

“We scored a one-two. That’s what we were aiming for today. We got maximum points. We’re happy as a team. We executed things perfectly.”

Piastri credited his teammate for helping him defend second place through the race to secure the one-two finish.

“It was about defense for the whole race, to be honest,” he said. “I had a good start and a good Turn 1 but then didn’t quite have the pace. I think I killed the front a little bit early on. I was struggling a bit for the rest of the Sprint.

“Some great teamwork. I think without that help it would’ve been a much more difficult Sprint.”

Russell was frustrated to be thwarted by McLaren’s team game to finish third ahead of Ferrari teammates Sainz and Charles Leclerc in fourth and fifth.

Leclerc had dropped behind Lewis Hamilton on the first lap but barged back past with a gutsy exchange on lap 13, diving down the Briton’s inside into Turn 1 and then hanging around his outside through Turn 2 to complete the move. It limited the damage done to Ferrari’s constructors’ title hopes to six points, its margin to McLaren now 30 points.

Hamilton finished sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who scored two valuable points for Haas’s hold on sixth in the title standings.

Max Verstappen finished an uncompetitive eighth after losing three places off the line and recovering only one from Pierre Gasly.

Gasly finished ninth ahead of Kevin Magnussen to complete the top 10, with Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon.

Liam Lawson lost seven places on the first lap to finish 16th ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Franco Colapinto finished 18th after overtaking Sergio Perez at the pit lane exit, both having started off the grid following overnight set-up changes.

Zhou Guanyu gambled on the soft tire and was forced to pit on his way to 19th, while Perez finished 20th after a pit stop for a new front wing.

Norris ‘not proud’ to win Sprint after team orders

Lando Norris says he’s “not proud” to have won the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as a result of teammate Oscar Piastri moving over for him. Piastri qualified on pole position for the Sprint ahead of Norris and the pair ran first and second …

Lando Norris says he’s “not proud” to have won the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as a result of teammate Oscar Piastri moving over for him.

Piastri qualified on pole position for the Sprint ahead of Norris and the pair ran first and second throughout the race, despite the close attentions of first Charles Leclerc and later Max Verstappen. With Norris in the fight for the drivers’ championship, Piastri was instructed to let his teammate through in the closing stages, and Norris says it was a sign of excellent teamwork.

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“I’m not proud about it but we worked well as a team together so I thank Oscar,” Norris said. “We’ve done a great job as a team, today was the result that we wanted. Oscar deserved it but we’re doing what we have to do, so I thank him and the team. We had great pace, so I’m looking forward to qualifying and the race tomorrow.”

Norris was on team radio telling McLaren he was going to try and overtake at one stage as he shadowed his teammate, but admits his track position made it challenging to stay close to Piastri.

“It’s tough. It was kind of like yo-yoing a little bit. Like I’d catch up, then I’d drop back, and catch up. It’s just the dirty air costs you a lot of lap time. I felt a bit quicker, but I couldn’t pass at the time, but I felt good. I think we were clearly quicker than the guys behind, but it’s just difficult in the Sprint race like this to know how much to manage and push and that kind of thing, but we executed it well.”

Piastri said it wasn’t a simple race, and that McLaren will need to find some steps ahead of qualifying for the grand prix to be stronger on Sunday.

“It was a bit tricky, to be honest,” Piastri said. “Very bumpy as we know and the racing line was incredibly narrow, you missed it by a tire width and you were in all sorts of trouble. A great day for the team and a lot of points. I think we learned a lot for the race tomorrow as well, and I’m happy.

“I think (I’m) optimistic (for the race). I think the pace was OK but the Ferrari was very quick at the start and Max was very quick at the end, so let’s see. I think we’ve got a few things we want to try and improve a bit for qualifying this afternoon and for the race tomorrow, but I think we’re in decent shape.”

Norris beats Piastri after team orders in Sao Paulo Sprint

Lando Norris won the Sao Paulo Sprint race after teammate Oscar Piastri ceded the lead late in the race to benefit the Briton’s title challenge. Pole-getter Piastri aced his start to keep Norris at bay into the first corner, with Charles Leclerc …

Lando Norris won the Sao Paulo Sprint race after teammate Oscar Piastri ceded the lead late in the race to benefit the Briton’s title challenge.

Pole-getter Piastri aced his start to keep Norris at bay into the first corner, with Charles Leclerc defending hard ahead of an aggressive Max Verstappen to retain third.

The top eight held station in the opening laps, with the gaps between places opening up on a day tire degradation loomed as a significant unknown after a single inconclusive hour of practice on Friday.

The top four were notable exceptions, however, with a delicate game of DRS playing out between the leading McLaren teammates dictating how close Verstappen could get to Leclerc.

Leclerc was reliant on keeping within 1s of Norris ahead to comfortably hold back Verstappen by neutralizing the DRS effect, the Dutchman otherwise having better pace throughout the Sprint. Piastri in turn was required to keep Norris within DRS to ensure the Briton didn’t fall into the Ferrari driver’s clutches. The strategy frustrated Norris, who gave the impression he expected to be allowed into the lead early in the sprint.

“I’m not sure what I’m doing here mate,” he radioed. “I thought we spoke about this.”

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Norris made life difficult for himself, however, with a slide through the middle sector, dropping himself well beyond 1s of the lead. Piastri was in turn told to reduce his pace to bring his teammate back with DRS range.

Leclerc was the next driver to make a minor mistake, the pressure of defending against Verstappen beginning to tell. It gave the McLaren drivers a chance to generate some valuable breathing room to the pursuing cars.

“If Lando attacks, do not make it too difficult,” Piastri was told, while Norris was told if he couldn’t make the move on the track, he would be allowed through on the final lap.

Verstappen, however, complicated matters significantly by finally blasting past Leclerc on lap 18, a better run out of the Senna S getting him into third with the aid of DRS on the run down to turn 4, Descida do Lago. The Dutchman was significantly quicker that Leclerc and immediately began menacing the leaders.

The race was building to a fraught finish when Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas expired in the middle sector, the German parking just off the track on lap 22.

Sensing that the race might suddenly end behind a safety car, McLaren made the call immediately for its cars to swap positions. Piastri duly obliged, slowing on the straight down to turn 4 to allow Norris through. It was a prescient decision, with the virtual safety car triggered at the end of the lap, suspending the race until the leaders were halfway around the final lap.

Norris nailed the restart, but Piastri came under significant threat from Verstappen behind as the pair entered the braking zone for turn 4 just as green conditions prevailed. The Dutchman pulled alongside the McLaren threateningly but couldn’t make the move, and the Australian was able to hold him off to the checkered flag behind his victorious teammate.

“I’m not proud about it, but we worked well as a team together, so I thank Oscar,” Norris said. “We’ve done a great job as a team. We got the result that we wanted.

“Oscar deserved it, but we’re doing what we have to do.”

The result reduced Norris’s championship deficit to 45 points.

Piastri was pleased the team took home the maximum score but warned that McLaren didn’t have the pace advantage it expected after sprint qualifying.

“It was a great day for the team, and a lot of points,” he said. “I think we learnt a lot for the race tomorrow as well. I think the pace was OK, but the Ferrari was very quick at the start and Max was very quick at the end. Let’s see.”

Verstappen was buoyed to have finished the sprint so competitively after an underwhelming sprint qualifying performance, noting that he could have finished further up had most of the race not been dictated by the DRS train freezing the top four.

“It was quite a tricky race, but I think the pace was very good because we could always follow in the DRS,” he said. “It took a bit too long with Charles, but when everyone was in the DRS train, it was very hard to attack. I had to wait for some mistakes, and luckily they came, and I could use them to my advantage.”

However,Verstappen may yet have his strong result impacted, with the Dutchman under investigation for a virtual safety car infringement.

Leclerc finished fourth ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz, George Russell and Pierre Gasly, the latter three finishing where they started.

Sergio Perez recovered five places from his starting position culminating in a battle with RB’s Liam Lawson. The Mexican made several attempts on the Kiwi, including one that resulted in a lock-up that sent him wide, but got the move done on lap 20 of 24 to score the final point of the race.

Lawson finished ninth ahead of Alex Albon, Lewis Hamilton, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, Oliver Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas.

Zhou Guanyu, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll completed the order, the trio having started from pit lane with setup changes.

Piastri willing to relinquish win in Sao Paulo Sprint if asked

Oscar Piastri says he would be willing to give up victory in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to teammate Lando Norris if asked. McLaren locked out the front row of the grid on Friday afternoon, with Piastri pipping Norris by just 0.029s on …

Oscar Piastri says he would be willing to give up victory in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to teammate Lando Norris if asked.

McLaren locked out the front row of the grid on Friday afternoon, with Piastri pipping Norris by just 0.029s on his final attempt of the session. Prior to that, Norris had looked quickest throughout Sprint qualifying, but starts second as he looks to close the gap to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, and Piastri admits team orders could come into play on Saturday.

“We’ll see what the pace is like tomorrow for both of us,” Piastri told Sky Sports. “I think first and second is the first objective, and then we’ll see where it is. I know I’m not in the running for the drivers’ standings, and for the team it doesn’t matter which way round we are. So I know that’s the case, and we’ll see what they say.

“Yes, I said I would [give up a win] from when we first had these discussions. It would be nice to win, but it’s one point different and it’s not the main race. We’ll see — Lando needs the points in the drivers’ standings a lot more than I do, but of course I still want to win. If I put in the effort and have good pace, I’m sure that won’t go unnoticed, but let’s see.”

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Piastri says his lack of a second lap in SQ1 actually hampered his performance slightly as he looked slightly adrift of Norris for a spell, but that he managed to get on top of the high track evolution by his final attempt.

“The very first lap of the session in SQ1, I put in a really good lap, and then I didn’t do another one at the end of SQ1. The track was just really moving on really quickly — I think it was like a second and a half faster by the end,” he said. “So I think I was catching up a little bit through the rest of the runs, and the last laps on softs, they hung on for a second lap, which was nice, and I managed to put it on pole.”

Piastri insists he was expecting McLaren to have strong pace at Interlagos, but believes the Sprint will be tough for drivers given the bumpiness of the resurfaced track.

“It was coming together maybe a bit better than we expected, but I think we felt pretty comfortable after P1 this morning,” he said. “I think everybody was kind of thrown off a bit by just how bumpy the track was, so I think there were a lot of setup changes going on — the order was a bit jumbled. But I think we were confident that on paper we should be pretty strong, and I think that session showed it.

“I think seeing at the end of the straight is the first objective! It’s bad — it’s really, really bumpy, and I think everyone’s had to change a lot of things on their car to make them somewhat comfortable, but we’ll see. The grip is actually quite good, it’s just that trying to keep all four wheels on the ground at once is not that easy. The track is constantly evolving.”

Piastri wins McLaren duel for Sao Paulo Sprint pole

Oscar Piastri beat teammate Lando Norris to pole for the Sao Paulo Sprint to set up an all-McLaren front row for Saturday’s 100-kilometer race at the Interlagos circuit. Norris had looked primed to dominate the session, having rocketed to top spot …

Oscar Piastri beat teammate Lando Norris to pole for the Sao Paulo Sprint to set up an all-McLaren front row for Saturday’s 100-kilometer race at the Interlagos circuit.

Norris had looked primed to dominate the session, having rocketed to top spot in SQ2 on the medium tire and blitzing Piastri to top spot after both drivers set their first laps in SQ3. But McLaren unusually prepared both drivers to set two laps, albeit with the same used tires, in the eight-minute segment when ordinarily drivers complete just one.

Piastri was faultless in his second attempt, moving to top spot by just 0.029s and piling pressure on his teammate to improve. Norris matched him in the first sector but couldn’t improve in the second, abandoning the lap and handing the advantage to his teammate.

With no other team in McLaren’s league in the first competitive session of the weekend, Piastri claimed his second career sprint pole.

“I felt pretty comfortable at the start, and the grip was really coming up a lot through the session,” he said. “My first lap didn’t feel amazing, and I knew that there were a few places to improve. The second lap was good, and the tires hung on. I’m very, very happy and excited to be starting from P1.”

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Charles Leclerc slotted into third for Ferrari but was a quarter of a second off the pace.

Max Verstappen improved late but struggled for balance as track grip improved, leaving him fourth and 0.32s off the pace. Carlos Sainz followed 0.038s further back.

Sixth was the best Mercedes could manage, with George Russell 0.544s off pole.

Pierre Gasly was seventh ahead of Liam Lawson — who made the first top-10 Sprint qualifying appearance of his career –and Alex Albon.

Oliver Bearman, standing in for the ill Kevin Magnussen, was 10th without a time in his first career Sprint qualifying session after having his best lap deleted for track limits.

Lewis Hamilton was 0.097s short of a spot in SQ3, leaving him 11th on the Sprint grid ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the second Haas.

Sergio Perez was the segment’s other shock elimination, qualifying 13th. The Mexican, who has a new chassis this weekend in a bid to unpick his poor form, had set too slow a lap with his first run but was then too slow getting back onto the track for his second attempt in this shortened qualifying format, rendering him unable to improve.

Franco Colapinto will line up 14th ahead of Stake Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas in 15th — his team’s best Sprint qualifying result since both cars made the top 10 in China.

Fernando Alonso will line up 16th, Aston Martin’s upgrade rollback proving inconclusive in solving the team’s recent woes. Teammate Lance Stroll in 19th was similarly unlikely to instill much confidence with the previous-spec parts.

Splitting the green pair was Esteban Ocon in 17th and a surprised Yuki Tsunoda in 18th, who complained of having no grip on his final lap.

Zhou Guanyu will start the Sprint last, having qualified 1.698s off the back of the pack.

Piastri takes blame for ‘painful’ Mexico City Q1 exit

Oscar Piastri admits the mistake he made in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix was painful as he dropped out in Q1. McLaren looked quick in FP3 on Saturday and was a contender for pole position but Piastri locked up on his first run in Q1 as …

Oscar Piastri admits the mistake he made in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix was painful as he dropped out in Q1.

McLaren looked quick in FP3 on Saturday and was a contender for pole position but Piastri locked up on his first run in Q1 as the team used medium tires initially. Then on softs for his final attempt, the Australian went wide at Turn 12 and couldn’t improve enough on a second timed lap so was eliminated in 17th place.

“I just went off in Turn 12, got beached on the curb there and that’s it,” Piastri said. “My lap was easily going to be enough so it’s frustrating to make that mistake. I lost about a second, so… painful.

“FP3 was very strong, even FP2. FP1 I struggled a bit, but FP2 I think we made some really good changes and I was comfortable. FP3 [was] very comfortable as well, and even in qualifying I felt good. Just a very silly mistake, trying a bit too hard in Q1, so that was it. I mean, at least I know where it all went wrong, but it still is painful to be stood here.”

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Piastri also suggested he could have aborted and done another run on new tires to try and advance but he was expecting to have the performance to improve regardless.

“We didn’t have to [stay out], but it felt like a very sensible decision to do that,” he explained. “I think we just had very, very little grip on that second lap, which was a shame, but I mean, I shouldn’t have even needed it. Obviously frustrating, because the pace looked very strong and I felt comfortable. Just tried a bit too much in Turn 12 and it bit me hard.”

A year ago, teammate Lando Norris also started 17th and finished fifth with an impressive drive in Mexico, and Piastri says that will be the template for his own recovery attempt on Sunday.

“Try and get back into the points, and strongly into the points, hopefully,” he said. “We’re trying to draw inspiration from Lando’s race last year and see what we can do. I think it’s going to be tough, because the field looks reasonably tight. I think we’ve got some pace on board this weekend, so we’ll try and use it to get through.”