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Oscar Piastri saved his best until last in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix after conceding to a “more stressful” Q1 than was necessary around Monza.
Piastri will start a respectable seventh as team-mate Lando Norris’ post-Friday practice prediction came true due to the McLaren MCL60 lacking the one-lap pace of Ferrari and Red Bull, in particular, with Mercedes’ George Russell and Williams’ Alex Albon also ahead of the Australian.
It was almost a very different story for Piastri, however, as the first qualifying session unfolded around the ‘Temple of Speed’.
With just five minutes remaining, Piastri had a lap deleted for exceeding track limits at the second Lesmo.
After a cool-down lap, ahead of his second tour on the hard compound tyre, Piastri was languishing in 19th.
Bearing in mind he had already taken to the gravel in final practice as he explored the limits of the car, the 22-year-old was under pressure to post a respectable time to reach Q2.
“I just carried a bit too much speed in that case (in practice), and I also struggled a little bit with the rear of the car, so nothing major,” said Piastri.
“But then Q1 wasn’t my finest session ever. I went off by millimetres (at Lesmo), which was a bit annoying.
“But I knew the pace was there. Being on the hard, I knew the second lap on the tyre would still be reasonable.
“It was a bit more stressful than I wanted but in the end, it didn’t make a difference.”
Piastri went on to finish quicker than Norris in each of the three sessions, and in that respect, on all three compounds given qualifying was run under the ATA (alternative tyre allocation) rules for this weekend – hard in Q1, medium for Q2, and softs in Q3.
For only the third time this season, Piastri will start ahead of Norris, who lines up two places further back after finishing almost two-tenths of a second adrift.
Given the circumstances of Q1, and the fact Piastri beat Norris in all three sessions around a circuit McLaren knew ahead of the weekend would not be ideal for their car, it could be argued that all-round it was his best qualifying of the season.
Despite a superb Q3 lap at the death, Piastri was dismissive of the suggestion.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “Q1 was not very good, to be honest with you.
“Last week in Zandvoort, I was happy with every lap until the last one, and this weekend was probably the opposite – not that happy with all the laps until the last one, which I’m glad it’s that way around.
“But the last lap I did was pretty solid. I felt like I hadn’t really nailed a lap, struggling a little bit the whole weekend just to nail it, a bit through my driving, and a car that’s been a bit tricky to drive this weekend.
“But I feel like when it mattered, I did a decent job, and I can be happy with that.
“Obviously, we’d like to be a bit further up the front, and maybe that last lap in Q3 was one of my better ones (of the season), but on the whole, I wouldn’t say it was the best (qualifying) of the year.”
