Oscar Piastri admits his first top-three result in qualifying at the British Grand Prix is “very special” after a stunning day for McLaren.
Qualifying took place in damp conditions but stayed dry enough for slicks throughout and as the track dried further McLaren came on strongly to secure second place with Lando Norris and Piastri in third. Receiving the updated McLaren at Silverstone — one race after Norris — the Australian pulled out the best result of his rookie season to date and says he took his opportunity when it came.
“It’s very special to be in the top three,” Piastri said. “It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been to one of these press conferences so it’s nice to be back. It’s been a great day — even this weekend, we thought we could get into the top 10 at least.
“When the conditions were looking like they were, it’s generally been solid for us previously. I think we went in quietly confident that we could pull off something pretty special and we managed to do it. Happy with the lap I did — wasn’t too much left out there.”
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Given the changing conditions, Piastri says McLaren responds well to such situations and took full advantage with both cars.
“I think we’ve had about four of those (type of) sessions this year. I think we’re all getting good practice with it, but those conditions, most drivers really enjoy them. They’re always tricky to get right — you need to find where the grip is on the track. Sometimes you couldn’t see where the grip was, you just had to pray you were on a dry bit of track.
“I really enjoy those conditions, and so does our car it seems. I think we did a good job, managing on the team side. When it comes to qualifying, nine times out of 10 we do a good job with that. Full credit to the team for the calls today — and the car as well, clearly it was working well today.”
While not getting two carried away by the qualifying showing, Piastri is hopeful that McLaren can at least keep both drivers in the top 10 given the race pace shown by the updated car in Austria last weekend.
“Firstly stay in the points, I think that would be good,” he reckoned. “I think we have to see what our race pace was like. Lando showed last week that we can hang on in the races now to a much better extent. Hopefully we can try do the same tomorrow. Staying in the top three will be tricky with quite a few quick cars behind us, but definitely a solid points score can be on the cards.”