Piastri on his maiden F1 Pole: “I’ve worked hard for it”

Oscar Piastri says he is “pretty pumped” after securing his first-ever Grand Prix Pole, ending the day “happy” after finding an extra ounce of pace around the Shanghai International Circuit… even if he doesn’t “fully understand” how.

Coming for the back of a heartbreaking home Grand Prix outing, the Melbourne-born racer reflected on the milestone achievement as “a nice step along the way”.

“Yeah, I mean, means a lot, being close a few times now and yeah, nice to finally have my first Pole,” Piastri said. 

“I’ve had had a couple of Sprint Poles, but to have the first Grand Prix Pole, it means a bit more, so yeah, pretty, pretty pumped. 

“To be honest, I’ve worked hard for it, and I feel like, you know, the start of the season has been strong. 

“Just obviously the result of Melbourne was, you know, a shame, but I feel like I’ve been doing a good job otherwise, and just happy to have ended up on Pole.”

Piastri made quick work of the first stage of qualifying, foreshadowing what was to come when he jumped to the top of the order with a time of 1:31.591s, holding strong throughout the entire 18-minute session to fast-track him to Q2.

Having used an extra set of tyres in Q1, Piastri had one less tool in the shed to use for the remainder of the hour.

His initial lap, a 1:31.200s, momentarily placed him fastest overall before Norris, with three purple sectors to his name, put four-tenths between himself and the #81. 

On the Australian’s final attempt, McLaren sent Piastri out on used tyres, a different approach than his competitors who primarily sported shiny new sets of the soft compound.

The Australian didn’t have to worry too much, however, with his MCL39 carrying him safely into the top ten shootout as the third-fastest driver on track.

The timing sheets reflected a controlled start to Piastri’s qualifying campaign in China, however, the Australian admitted he struggled in Q1 and Q2.

“We changed a few things. I wasn’t perfectly happy with the car I had in Sprint Quali and the Sprint this morning,” the #81 said.

“So, it was trying to make it a bit better for today, and, in all honesty, probably more for tomorrow, but I’m not sure yet whether it was necessarily better or worse. 

“I think it was maybe a small step better, but I think the pace both days has been similar—it’s just been, as Lando [Norris] said, quite tricky to get lap times out of it. 

“Through Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling and, somehow found a lot of time in Q3 that I still don’t fully understand myself yet.”

When it was crunch time, Piastri started his Q3 campaign by securing provisional pole with a blister lap time of 1:30.703s, beating his teammate by a slim nine-hundredths of a second while Max Verstappen ran two-tenths slower.

“My first lap was honestly better than my second lap, but just that the hairpin, the end of the straight, I lost a bit of time and didn’t do the best hairpin,” he admitted. 

Continuing on track, Oscar Piastri charged around the Shanghai International Circuit, matching Verstappen and Norris through the first sector.

Despite securing provisional pole thanks to the #1 and #4’s slower effort, the Australian followed through to the chequered flag, improving on his lap to cement his first-ever pole position of his F1 career.

His time of 1:30.641s smashed the all-time lap record in China, declaring the slow-speed Turn 14 “the hairpin of my life” in process.

“The second lap, I was about two tents down on myself, so I kind of just went, ‘Why not send it into the hairpin?’ And I gained those two-tenths back and then found a little bit more in the last corner.

“So, I honestly was, without that hairpin, tempted to box before that. So, I’m pretty happy now that I didn’t, but it was… I just did a good corner, that was all.”

Looking ahead to the Chinese Grand Prix itself, Piastri’s biggest challenge will be tyre management, with today’s Sprint already revealing the significant advantage thorough management can have in the closing stages.

“I think just making sure your tyres survive is the biggest thing,” Piastri said. 

“I think we saw this morning that, those that could, I would say, look after their tyres, but that wasn’t even really true, that the people that could manage the best, one way or another were the quickest. And, I think for my own Sprint, I felt like I did a reasonable job. 

“It was just difficult trying to get past Max [Verstappen], but I think we saw with Lewis [Hamilton] being out in front all morning, it probably helped him in the long run. So, I think it’s going to be a pretty interesting race. 

“You know, it’s the most grip we’ve probably seen and the most graining we’ve seen in a long time. So, interesting to see if it stays the same tomorrow.” 

On the track resurfacing, the Australian added: “It’s pretty much a completely different track in my eyes. 

“We’re a lot faster than we were last year and I think when you have this much grip, some of the corners here last year, I kind of left thinking ‘if the track had a bit more grip, some of these corners would be pretty incredible to drive’. 

“And this year, with this much grip it, they are, they’ve done a really good job of resurfacing it. 

“I said to my interview before, the only thing with these kind of tracks is they’re incredibly high grip whilst the tyres are pointing the direction you want, but as soon as you start to slide, it’s pretty difficult out there. 

“And I think, that’s not just been for us—I think it’s been a similar story for everybody, and we see it with a lot of the tracks that get resurfaced these days. 

“So, it’s been more fun to drive this year, definitely, but some very different challenges.”

Image: McLaren

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