Piastri’s P3 disappointment: “Sometimes it’s just not your day”

Denied the late chance to compete for pole position, a costly set of yellow flags in Q3 caused Oscar Piastri’s Qualifying campaign to end in heartbreak, with the Australian settling for P3 and conceding “sometimes it’s just not your day”.

In the lead-up to Qualifying, Piastri’s McLaren teammate was a cut above the rest from the get-go of the Austrian Grand Prix action, with the shootout proving to be no exception when Lando Norris excelled across the entire hour.

Not discrediting the dominance of the #4, Norris was aided by Pierre Gasly’s final corner misfortune as he secured pole position by over half a second — the largest pole margin of the season ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Starting the #81’s hour, his initial flying lap came undone at Turn 4 when he dipped a wheel into the gravel trap, forcing him into a second run shortly after.

Piastri tracked one-tenth slower than his teammate through the first sector, with that offset increasing through Sectors 2 and 3.

The Australian finished the lap as the second fastest driver, however, still over three-tenths behind Norris.

Marginally closing the gap to 0.294s on his final Q1 run, Piastri advanced to the second stage of Qualifying with an overall fastest time of 1:04.966s.

“It’s very difficult around here to get that perfect lap because there’s a lot of corners that have gravel on the exit, and you’ve got to be pretty careful there,” Piastri said. 

“But there’s also a lot of corners that you miss an apex by five centimetres one way or the other, and you’ve lost a couple of tenths easily. 

“So it’s not the easiest track to hook up even though it’s short, and I just kind of felt like I didn’t quite do that today. 

“So, a bit of a shame.”

The McLaren duo were the last cars to leave the pitlane at the start of Q2, setting the tone for what became a two-way battle for the fastest time of the middle stage.

Piastri put his best foot forward when he secured two purple sectors on his 4.3km journey to the line, however, it wasn’t enough to outpace a trailing Norris.

On his second run, the Australian further improved on the clock but maintained his position in P2, feeling satisfied enough with his attempt to round out Q2 in the pitlane, advancing to the top-ten shootout with ease.

Hunting down his teammate who was in flying form, Piastri started the all-important Q3 session on the back foot as he road the abrasive sausage kerb at Turn 1, resulting in a scruffy first sector which left the #81 with a time of 1:04.554s — two-tenths slower than his teammate and 0.062s slower than the Ferrari who demoted Piastri to third.

The #81 then spent a short stint back in the comfort of the McLaren, before joining the rest of the pack as they exited the pitlane with three minutes on the clock. 

Focusing on perfecting his out-lap, Piastri didn’t even get to start his final attempt when he rounded the final corner and was forced to let off the throttle as dust, gravel and yellow flags flew at the final turn.

“It was the fact I didn’t get to start it — that was the problem,” Piastri said. 

“I had [Pierre] Gasly spin at the last corner, so I didn’t even open my second lap.

“ And Lando’s been very quick all weekend, so it would have been a tough challenge, but I think we easily had enough pace in the car this weekend to be on the front row. 

“So always a shame when you don’t even get the chance, but we can still have a good race from there. 

“Sometimes it’s just not your day.”

The 24-year-old was the first of many drivers to be impacted by Gasly’s Turn 10 spin, unable to complete his last-ditch attempt and instead heading straight back to the pitlane as the clock would permit a second attempt.

Expressing his frustration over team radio in uncharacteristically colourful fashion, Piastri for forced to settle for a disappointing P3 result in Qualifying, finishing himself in a Ferrari sandwich for tomorrow’s main event.

As for Sunday’s race, however, his Saturday misfortune has only fuelled the Australian’s hunger for more, with Piastri ending his post-qualifying interview by saying he’s “not planning on finishing third, that’s for sure”.

“I think through all of qualifying, I was missing that last tenth, but not getting the chance to do my final Q3 run was quite frustrating,” Piastri said. 

“Sometimes those things are going to happen. I was quite happy that I didn’t lose more spots by not doing that. 

“So, third’s still an okay place to start around here. 

“You can race around this track, so [I will] try and make some progress.”

With a 22-point buffer between himself and Norris in the championship battle, Piastri’s mission to outpace his teammate across the 71-lap race will kick off at 23:00 AEST tonight. 

Image: McLaren

2025 Austrian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, June 27:

FP1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday, June 28:

FP2: 01:00 – 02:00

FP3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday, June 29:

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race: 23:00

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