“The pace and the potential is definitely there,” Piastri says

After two scorching hours of practice at the Italian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri feels optimistic against the tight competition, saying “the pace and the potential is definitely there” in Monza.

Tasked with configuring McLaren’s aerodynamics package, Oscar Piastri was busy during the boiling opening hour of practice in Monza, even if it didn’t quite reflect on the early timing sheets.

Out-lap after out-lap, Piastri emerged for a few explorations of the new tarmac and reconfigured kerbs, testing out the track-specific front wing and a new sidepod shape beneath the engine cover.

As a result, it took 30 minutes before he had a legitimate time to his name.

“I would say [today was] pretty good,” Piastri said.

“Some things to tidy up, definitely, but I think the pace and the potential is definitely there so leaving pretty happy.

“Tyres have been an interesting point today for everybody so yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what that is like throughout the rest of the weekend.

“But no, pace was pretty good.”

The lap, a 1:23.940s, was only quick enough for tenth-fastest, placing him 1.5 seconds behind the benchmark. 

On his next run, Piastri cut the margin down to eight-tenths, continuing with his medium tyre running until the final 15 minutes.

In the late soft tyre stages of the session, the Australian jumped into the top four, sitting just three-tenths back on Charles Leclerc’s then-benchmark.

The #81 ended his session on the medium compound, completing his final tour of the Temple of Speed with a thick coating of flow vis on the rear of his MCL38 before coming home in P6.

“Monza’s a little bit different now with some of the changes they’ve made with the kerbs and the resurfacing and stuff, so it’s taken a little bit to get used to that,” Piastri said.

“But, yeah, a pretty solid Friday.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38 during practice at the Italian GP. Image: Andy Hone / LAT Images.

The slightly cooler afternoon session saw Piastri maximising the hour of running with structured qualifying and race simulations.

The #81 opened his FP2 campaign on the medium compound tyre, instantly slotting into the top three with a time of 1:21.808s.

Piastri’s first run had him in close company of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, but as time went on, the 23-year-old slipped down the order to P7.

Prompting a compound switch, McLaren kicked off their drivers’ qualifying runs shortly after.

Setting two purple sectors and one personal best, Piastri skyrocketed to the top of the order with a time of 1:20.858s, holding P1 before Lando Norris pipped him by seven milliseconds.

Piastri fell to P4, with his charge back into the top three being hampered by a Haas-derivative mid-session delay.

As the session restarted, the Melbourne-born racer secured track position from third in the queue, spending the remaining 20 minutes completing his long-run program.

Piastri was the fastest driver on the medium tyre during the final long runs, circulating the track in consistent 1:24.7s instalments.

This didn’t change his order on the final timing sheets, however, with Piastri remaining in P4 as the field completed their practice starts on the still-scorching grid.

“It’s pretty warm, definitely, I think, fortunately, Monza’s not the most physical track that we go to, it’s a lot of straights, a lot of fresh air,” the Australian said.

“For the tyres, it’s never fun when they’re so hot.

“You know, same thing for everybody, it’s not as hot track temperatures as what we’ve seen  at some places this year, but yeah, it definitely feels warm enough.”

Andrea Stella, the Team Principal at McLaren, acknowledged the hard work his team had done over the first day of practice in Monza, already sussing out the tight competition after just two hours on track.

“Both sessions today were pretty busy,” Stella said.

“We had a lot of work to do to acquire data, and confirm our aerodynamic upgrades. 

“We also worked to understand the tyres on this new tarmac, which seemed to show that they behave differently when compared to the past. 

“As usual in Monza, we were also trying to nail the set-up for the long straights while also saving some grip in the corners. 

“This year it looks like the tarmac is a lot smoother, which offers some opportunities from a set-up point of view. 

“We have plenty of work to do, but overall, it was a positive couple of sessions. 

“We’ll review all of this data and prepare for the remainder of the weekend, which looks very, very tight from a competitiveness point of view, with the usual four teams in condition to fight for the podium.”

With just one hour of practice ahead of the all-important qualifying session, FP3 will be crucial in closing or building margins of confidence over the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes who have looked right on the money since the very first lap.

FP3 will kick off at 8:30 PM, followed by Qualifying at midnight. 

Image: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images

2024 Italian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, August 30th:

FP1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday, August 31st:

FP2: 01:00 – 02:00

FP3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday, September 1st:

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race: 23:00

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.