Piastri didn't expect to be in Q3 in Jeddah

Oscar piastri secured his place in Q3 for the first time in his young career in Formula 1. The Australian, eliminated in Q1 in Bahrain, recovered from this failure with a magnificent performance in Jeddah. Ninth in qualifying, the rookie will start from 8th place thanks to Leclerc's penalty. With a McLaren MCL60 difficult to pilot, the young 21-year-old pilot was impressive when, at the same time, Lando Norris was eliminated in Q1 following a mistake in the last corner.

And the least we can say is that he himself was the first surprise to qualify in the top 10. “I think this result was probably not expected to be completely honest, confided Oscar Piastri after qualifying. The sensations were good. I think we were in a pretty good place in FP3 with the balance and that translated into qualifying as well, which is nice. Additionally, I am gaining confidence with the car and finding my cruising speed in Jeddah. Everything went well, I did some good laps and here we are in the top 10.”

First points for Piastri? 

The Melbourne native could score his first points in Formula 1 on Sunday evening, during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri was rather confident about his chances of a top 10 in the race, with a McLaren more comfortable in the race than in qualifying. “[The points] are definitely within reach. It will be difficult (…) but we will do our best, said the Australian on Saturday.We thought our race pace was actually better than our qualifying pace yesterday. We will see if it is true [Sunday]. Obviously our straight line speed isn't exactly our strength, so we'll see how that goes, but we're confident to try and fight for the points. »

Oscar Piastri's primary objective will first be to finish the race in Jeddah, having retired with a mechanical problem in Bahrain two weeks ago. The reliability of the McLaren MCL60 will be the main question on the Corniche circuit, which is very demanding for turbo-hybrid engines. 

The start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be at 18 p.m. (French time) and will be followed in live text on AUTOhebdo.

ALSO READ > New disillusionment for Hamilton: “I don’t feel connected to this car”