Piastri “pretty happy” with Saturday P6 performances in Miami

Oscar Piastri was “pretty happy” with his performance across Saturday’s events, with the #81 finishing the action-packed Sprint Race in P6 before continuing that trend in Qualifying, starting on Row 3 in a Grand Prix for the fifth consecutive time.

Starting off with the morning’s 19-lap Sprint Race, Piastri lined up from sixth on the grid, a blessing in disguise as chaos unfolded behind him.

At Turn 1, Piastri’s teammate’s race was cut short after he became a helpless victim of contact made between the Aston Martins and Lewis Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso was a sitting duck as he rounded the apex of the first corner, with Hamilton storming down the inside and using the Spaniard as a brake, and his teammate closing in from the outside.

Lance Stroll rebounded off his teammate, tagging Lando Norris and sending the McLaren driver spinning.

The stricken McLaren and subsequent debris prompted a short-lived Safety Car while the marshals cleared the track.

At the restart, Piastri found himself sitting behind Carlos Sainz, whose focus was solely lying with Daniel Ricciardo in P4. 

Despite non-stop action occurring around the 23-year-old, Piastri’s Sprint was relatively uneventful.

After slightly losing touch with Sainz, the Australian had clawed his way up to the rear of the Ferrari, finding himself within the one-second margin for a short while before dropping back once again.

He was far closer as the chequered flag was waved, however, sitting five-tenths back after the #55 had accepted defeat.

Piastri made it home unharmed, crossing the line in P6 to add three points to his season tally, a welcomed result for the team who would be preoccupied with repairing Norris’ car ahead of the Grand Prix Qualifying session that afternoon.

“Me and Carlos [Sainz] got bunched up behind Daniel [Ricciardo], who did a good job defending!” Piastri said.

“I don’t think we could have done too much more [in the Sprint].

“I had pace, I felt like, but I couldn’t really use it in the dirty air.

“I’ll try and qualifying a bit higher up, and make our life a bit easier tomorrow.”

Oscar Piastri during Qualifying at the Miami GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.

It was a consistent qualifying session for the McLaren driver, with Piastri’s Q1, Q2 and Q3 standings seeing him finishing in P6, P4 and P6.

The opening 18-minute session was a busy one, with traffic becoming a huge deciding point for the final Q1 order.

Piastri found himself racing Valtteri Bottas to the first corner, in a tussle Zak Brown jokingly put down to “ego”.

The lap time that rewarded the Aussie with a Q2 appearance was a 1:28.032s, placing him just over a tenth back on his teammate who finished Q1 in the top three.

In the middle portion of qualifying, both McLaren drivers shot to the top of the order, led by the #81.

Their time at the top was short-lived, however, with Leclerc beating the 23-year-old’s time by almost two-tenths.

As the chequered flag fell, Piastri’s fastest lap was three-tenths quicker than his previous Q1 time, finishing this session ahead of his teammate.

Norris was the only driver running mediums in Q3, making the switch to the red-marked compound after his first run left him down in P6.

As for Piastri, the Australian was sitting with a provisional second-row start in P4, four-tenths back on Verstappen’s provisional pole time before drifting down the order.

On final runs, however, improving on your time was a rarity.

As a result, McLaren ended the session in P5 and P6, with Norris qualifying just 81 milliseconds ahead of Piastri.

The 23-year-old’s fastest lap of the session was a 1:28.675s.

“I’m pretty happy with that,” Piastri said.

“It felt like it was a good Qualifying session, and the car was consistent the whole way through. 

“I don’t think there was too much more in it to be able to push us any further forward, so I am pleased. 

“The team have done a good job so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

McLaren will be hoping for a cleaner start to tomorrow morning’s Miami Grand Prix, with the drivers looking to extend the team’s lead over Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship.

The Miami Grand Prix kicks off at 6:00 AM, Sunday morning, AEST.

2024 Miami Grand Prix schedule 

Saturday, May 4

Practice 1: 02.30-03.30

Sprint Shootout: 06.30-07.14

Sunday, May 5

Sprint: 02.00-03.00

Qualifying: 06.00-07.00

Monday, May 5

Grand Prix: 06.00

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