Undaunted, Piastri finally takes his first pole in F1: “The car came alive in Q3”

After 47 unsuccessful attempts, Oscar piastri secured the first pole position of his career this Saturday in Formula 1 ! The Australian was the fastest in Q3 in Shanghai and will start in first place on Sunday for the Chinese Grand Prix. The driver McLaren offered the best possible response to his critics, a week after his terrible mistake at home that cost him a podium, or even a victory, in Australia. Throughout the weekend, the Melbourne native did not seem to be bothered by this bitter disappointment and this is reflected in his first career pole.

More discreet than his teammate Lando Norris During the first two qualifying sessions, Oscar Piastri was able to respond at the best of times in Q3, successively setting the two fastest laps of the third and final session. More comfortable than Lando Norris with the MCL39, especially when the wind picks up, the Australian confirms that he has improved on the flying lap exercise during the off-season, one of his weak points last year against the Briton.

If he manages to translate this pole position into victory on Sunday in Shanghai, the No. 81 could already upset a hierarchy that many already saw favoring Lando Norris at McLaren. Second in the Sprint earlier in the morning, Oscar Piastri seems to have the cards in hand to win in China.

Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Chinese GP pole sitter : “In Q3, I found a lot of pace, whereas in Q1 and Q2, I was struggling more. The car came alive in Q3, so I’m happy with the result. The laps weren’t perfect, but I’m just super happy to be on pole position. (…) It's a lot of fun with this new asphalt, which is very grippy. For us, it's the best feeling in the world. The downside is when you lose grip, it hurts! I think you saw that there were a lot of corrections at the wheel, mistakes. With this new surface, it's quite complicated, but when you put everything together, it's great. So I'll take this lap record in Shanghai!

“It’s definitely going to help [starting from pole] to give us a clear air. But I was happy after the sprint, it was the best result we could have achieved. I would have been even happier if I had finished one position higher, but looking at the race, I couldn’t really do better. We learned a lot this [Saturday] morning and I’m looking forward to putting that into practice [Sunday].”

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