The McLaren driver was third fastest as he flashed across the line at the end of qualifying on Saturday only for his final lap to be deleted.

Officials deemed Piastri had breached track limits at Turn 6 a point McLaren attempted to protest, but officials deemed as inadmissible.

It was a decision that came despite the presence of gravel on the outside of the corner acting as a natural barrier.

“From where I was sitting, I was in,” Piastri declared.

“Obviously it’s quite frustrating.

“We’ve done a lot of good work as a sport getting rid of these track limits issues.

“Amazingly, I’ve managed to find that there is still one somewhere.

“It felt like the best Turn 6 I did all weekend, and obviously quite painful that it gets your lap deleted,” he added.

“Another centimetre to the right, and I would have been in the gravel; my lap would have been over.

“For me, that’s what racing and F1 should be all about; pushing the limits and taking the risks.”

Interviews by Sky Sports, he described the penalty as “embarrassing.”

“We do all this work for track limits, put gravel in in places, and I didn’t even go off the track. I stayed on the track, probably my best Turn 6 and it gets deleted,” he argued.

“I don’t know why they’ve spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, trying to change the last two corners when you still have corners you can go off.

“But anyway, everyone else kept it in the track, I didn’t, that’s how it goes.”

Piastri demonstrated good car pace earlier in the day when he finished second to Max Verstappen in the F1 Sprint.

It should stand him in good stead for the race, though he’ll have to work his way beyond both Ferraris and both Mercedes if he’s to claim a podium.

As far as chasing down Verstappen goes, the Red Bull Racing driver is in a class of his own this weekend, Piastri suggested.

“Max looks to be a step ahead of everyone,” he observed.

“Then it seems very tight between us, Mercedes, and Ferrari.

“But the pace was good in the Sprint, there’s more strategy involved tomorrow, just more opportunities.

“Hopefully we can try and capitlise on some of them and make some progress back towards the front.”

Second and third looks to be the best case scenario for McLaren with Piastri confessing Verstappen’s qualifying pace caught him by surprise.

“His lap in Q2 was I think a bit of a reality check for everyone,” he confessed.

“And obviously he could repeat it in Q3.

“The gap seemed to be a little bigger in that session, for whatever reason.

“Clearly, they’re still the force to beat.”

The Austrian Grand Prix begins at 15:00 local time (23:00 AEST).