Oscar Piastri has described his Canadian Grand Prix weekend as “encouraging” despite a Qualifying crash.
Piastri set the ninth-best time in the session despite tagging the wall in slippery conditions at Turn 7.
The McLaren driver corrected a slide midway through the right-hander, walking the car just wide of the racing line in the process.
That left his right-rear wheel on the sodden track, which protested as he applied the throttle to spin him into the wall on drivers’ left.
It left him with damage to the right-rear wheel and drawing the red flag.
It was his first mistake of the season and, in reality, cost him very little when it comes to the grid for Sunday’s race.
“It’s been a reasonably encouraging weekend,” Piastri said.
“I think most of qualifying was good, apart from Q3 – even in saying that, I’m not sure what the potential in Q3 would have been for myself.
“We’ve just gone up another position, so that’s nice, with the penalty.
“So all in all, quite happy.”
Piastri will line up eighth after Carlos Sainz was demoted three grid places for impeding Pierre Gasly in Qualifying 1.
It means the 22-year-old will start alongside his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris on the fourth row.
With Norris the benchmark, it suggests that there was little more on offer in the session for Piastri even had he not spun.
It’s also a sign of growing confidence and trust in the car and himself to push closer to the limit – in this instance overstepping as all drivers invariably do.
“First sort of major mistake,” Piastri acknowledged.
“I had to get the first crash out of the way at some point.
“Just too aggressive on the throttle and that was also easy to do.
“Obviously, a shame and sorry to the mechanics who now have more work than they need, but all in all, I’m still reasonably happy with how the weekend’s gone.”
Norris and Piastri had been third and fourth at the end of Qualifying 2, benefitting from an early switch to the slick tyres as conditions briefly improved.
The pair had both started the segment on intermediate rubber before returning to the lane for the red-walled rubber.
That decision was aided by the pace of Alex Albon, who braved it on the dry weather option from the outset.
“Going straight out on the sticks was risky but that clearly worked quite well,” Piastri observed.
“From my side, we did a banker lap on the inters, because obviously in those conditions, it’s very easy to turn up in the wall or have a red flag or a yellow flag.
“In the end, it was the right decision.
“Some people still got through on inters, so it was quite close between the two, but as a team we did a very good job managing that.”
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