Piastri feeling positive: “We want to aim for the top step”

Oscar Piastri has given his home crowd something to get excited about after finishing in the top three during Friday practice, announcing McLaren “don’t want to just try and aim for the podium, we want to aim for the top step”.

The Australian started the opening day of running as he ended it — with a top three time — however, the opening stint of Piastri’s FP1 show was cut short due to a brief Red Flag delay to allow sprayed gravel to be cleared.

Returning to the circuit, the #81 was soon the cause of more gravel making its way onto the tarmac, dropping a wheel outside of track limits at the tricky Turns 6 and 7.

Piastri went on the secure a top ten time of 1:18.494s, however, with a gap of over two-tenths to Lando Norris, the final ten minutes of the session were all about Piastri putting things right for the Australian crowd.

And that he momentarily did, boosting his McLaren into the top three with a time of 1:17.670s before the final runs hit the scoreboard.

As the chequered flag fell, it was Piastri’s teammate who knocked him out of top three contention, leaving the Australian to finish his first home display in fourth.

“I would say pretty encouraging, I think the pace was pretty solid,” Piastri said.

“Still a few things to try and iron out and make the car feel a bit nicer but I think the underlying pace seems strong, so I’m pretty happy with today’s work. 

“I think it’s going to be pretty different for the next two days so how much today means, we don’t know. But it feels pretty good.”

In the afternoon session, Piastri had a front-row seat to his teammate’s near run-in with Liam Lawson, getting his slice of the cake when he took on the Kiwi around the sweeping Turn 8.

Switching focus back to his session, Piastri had top ten pace on the medium compound.

Moving onto soft compound running, Piastri sat at a deficit to his teammate until the 40-minute mark of the session when he shot up into second fastest, two-hundredths ahead of Norris. 

The boy from Brighton held his ground as the second fastest driver at his home circuit, with his fastest time of 1:16.563s seeing him remain ahead of Norris through to the chequered flag. 

After the FP2 session, Piastri expressed his measured happiness at how the opening day unfolded for McLaren, remaining weary of the weather and his competitors ahead of the final two days in Melbourne.

“The weather is going to be pretty different on Sunday and that’s going to throw some spanners in the works, but I think the underlying pace of the car seems strong,” Piastri said.

“Ferrari looked pretty quick today, and Mercedes at other points as well. 

“I think things are looking good but we don’t want to just try and aim for the podium, we want to aim for the top step.”

FP3 will kick off at 12:30 PM ahead of Qualifying at 4:00 PM.

Image: Epic Sports Photography – Peter Norton

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