Piastri looked competitive from the opening session, finishing just 0.185s off teammate Lando Norris, who secured his first Sprint pole of the year.
The Australian admitted his first flying lap wasn’t ideal, but said the overall feeling with the car had improved significantly.
“Yeah a little bit,” Piastri told Sky Sports when asked if his first sector cost him time.
“The soft just was a bit different from what I expected. A couple of big moments on my first lap which wasn’t ideal.
“That was a bit of a shame, but ultimately I felt much happier today than the last couple of weeks.
“Practice went very well. I think Sprint quali we changed a few things which took a little bit of getting used to again.
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“But, yeah, ultimately pretty happy. Would’ve liked a little bit more, but we can actually fight with what we’ve got and there’s obviously a lot more points on Sunday.”
The 24-year-old said he was optimistic heading into Saturday’s Sprint, despite the threat of severe weather expected to hit the circuit.
“It’s going to be an interesting day,” he said.
“Let’s see what whether we get. But yeah, I’ll try and take whatever opportunities there are, I think the pace in the car has been really good today, so hopefully that translates to whatever we get.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella praised both drivers for their close performances, saying Piastri’s rebound came as no surprise after addressing technical issues that affected him in Austin and Mexico.
“Well the drivers have been extremely close in free practice 1. Extremely close in qualifying. I think that’s the story of the entire season in fairness between Lando and Oscar,” Stella told Sky Sports.
“It’s good and it’s good that they are close and the car is fast. So it’s a good position to start some of the competitive sessions in this Sprint weekend.”
Stella added that the team was encouraged to see Piastri’s pace return to its usual level.
“I think in Austin and in Mexico there were some technical reasons why Oscar adopting his natural style was not producing the lap time,” he said.
“We reviewed that already in Mexico after qualifying. Already in the race, Oscar was quite fast. He couldn’t prove it because of the traffic. And I think here in Brazil he is back to his form.
“It’s a shame he had a little mistake in his first attempt in corner one. Oscar is there. I’m sure he’s going to be, like I said before, a very interesting competition this weekend.”
The positive signs come ahead of a wild Saturday forecast, with a cyclone bringing heavy rain and fierce winds to Sao Paulo and the FIA issuing an orange alert for the Sprint and qualifying.
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