Piastri content with P3: “Everything came alive again”

Oscar Piastri was content with securing third on the grid in Montreal — a solid turnaround from his rocky start to the weekend, and a crucial edge over teammate and championship rival Lando Norris, who faltered late and will start just seventh.

The lead-up to qualifying was far from reassuring for Piastri, who battled through a scrappy trio of practice sessions, capped off by a run-in with the wall just hours before the light went green on the first competitive session of the weekend.

Revealing that it was his choice not to run the upgraded suspension set-up this weekend, Piastri and Norris both had a lot of work to do to remain in the fight for pole position — a concept that has grown foreign for the championship leaders in 2025.

“[Qualifying was] much better than practice, that’s for sure,” Piastri said. 

“I mean, honestly, I’m quite happy here in P3. 

“After all the practice sessions, I was struggling, obviously. 

“I didn’t have a smooth session this morning, and, yeah, everything just felt more back to normal. 

“In qualifying, everything came alive again so, you know, there’ll always be the question—should we have gone for a Medium at the end? 

“But I think with how we’d been going in practice, having just a clean run on the same compound seemed like the best idea for us, and honestly, I think it worked well.”

One of the last drivers to exit the pitlane at the start of Q1, Piastri instantly put his FP3 troubles behind him as he skyrocketed into the lead of the session, setting a benchmark of 1:12.332s on the soft compound tyre. 

His second attempt was less certain, with the Australian carrying too much speed into Turn 2 which forced him to run wide and abort the run.

After Alex Albon’s Williams shed its engine cover on the back straight, bringing out Red Flags and pausing the session, Piastri rejoined Q1 with blistering pace, tracking three-tenths quicker on his next attempt to ultimately end the first stage in second place.

His teammate ended Q1 as the fastest man on track, however, after lucking out on his first flying lap, Norris made the choice to sacrifice another set of fresh tyres to ensure his place in Q2.

Reduced tyre supplies made Norris’ middle session slightly more difficult, though that, along with the soft vs medium tyre debate, didn’t stop the duo from advancing to the top ten shootout with ease.

“I mean, we always kept [the medium compound] on the table, but I don’t think we were ever that—or I certainly wasn’t ever that tempted,” he said.

“Like I said, practice was pretty miserable, so I just wanted to have a clean run through qualifying, not introduce any variables that could have made things even more difficult. 

“That’s what we stuck to. I think it’s been a strength of ours so far this year—sticking to our guns and doing what we think is best for us. 

“Would we have been on pole position on a Medium? Maybe. 

“But there’s also the risk that it goes wrong, and you end up worse than we are now. 

“So, I’m pretty happy.”

Piastri instantly cemented his MCL39 in third fastest as he commenced the session for the second stage of qualifying, setting a time of 1:11.715s on the soft compound tyre while Max Verstappen took the lead on the medium compound. 

Slipping down the order as Q2 neared a close, the Australian emerged onto the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to solidify his place in the top ten shootout, however, falling behind the lead pack of four drivers who were separated by just 0.068s.

Trailing his teammate as the light went green to start Q3, Piastri and Verstappen were easily identifiable as the drivers to beat after the first haul of laps had been set.

Crossing the line ahead of the Dutchman, Piastri claimed the top spot with a time of 1:11.273s, but it was Verstappen who claimed provisional pole seconds later when he put 0.025s between the pair despite reporting a return of his FP1 concerns. 

Back in the hunt for pole after a short reset in the pits, Piastri led the final charge across the 4.36km circuit, starting his lap with a one-tenth disadvantage to his upgraded teammate just behind.

He couldn’t claw it back in the middle sector, but a blistering final chicane turned things around, lighting up the final sector purple and launching the Australian into provisional pole. 

But Verstappen, looming behind, was on the limit from Turn 1, hooking up his lap with green and purple sectors, before the reigning champion outpaced Piastri by just 61 milliseconds to reclaim the top spot.

Still, it wasn’t over with George Russell delivering the final blow — a stunning lap that denied his Barcelona rival and secured the Brit his second Canadian Grand Prix pole.

“I think [we can challenge for the win],” Piastri said. 

“Again, Friday didn’t look great in any run, but I certainly feel more comfortable now than I did this morning and then yesterday. 

“Our pace on race days is generally where we’re strong. 

“These two next to me were very quick in the race runs yesterday, so it’s certainly not going to be a slam dunk win, but I think we’re definitely in the fight.”

Despite missing out on pole this morning, a third-place start puts Piastri in great stead to extend his championship lead on Sunday in Montreal, especially with his teammate’s drop -off in Q3.

Norris will line up from an unfavourable seventh place after a messy final stage which saw him run wide at the final chicane after misjudging his brake markers and making “too many mistakes”.

It will be all to play for come lights out tomorrow, however, with the Canadian Grand Prix taking place at 04:00 AEST on Monday morning.

Image: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

2025 Canadian Grand Prix Schedule (AEST):

Saturday, June 14th:

FP1: 03:30 – 04:30

FP2: 07:00 – 08:00

Sunday, June 15th:

FP3: 02:30 – 03:30

Qualifying: 06:00 – 07:00

Monday, June 16th:

Race: 04:00

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