If Oscar Piastri manages to become world champion by the end of the season, one of his most rewarding moments will be the pole position he achieved at the Catalunya circuit. Putting two tenths between himself and his teammate on such a technical and tricky track as the Spanish one is no small feat.
Moreover, if the teammate is your main rival in the world championship battle, it becomes something special. After Monaco, Piastri needed to send a clear and important signal, and the message sent to Norris leaves no room for interpretation. Oscar was faster than Lando in all three sectors of Montmeló, half a tenth in the first and third, a tenth in the middle section, setting the pole position with the largest margin of the season.
“I knew I had to fix some corners in the first half of the lap,” Piastri explained, “and I managed to do it. Maybe I even overdid it a bit, because in the third sector (where Max Verstappen set the best overall split) the tires weren’t at their best. If I had to redo qualifying, maybe I would make some slight changes, but I’d say I don’t care anymore, it went well like this.”
After six races, the two papayas will start side by side in the race, knowing that leaving the first corner in the lead will be decisive for the victory. Some small signs of growing tension appeared already in qualifying, when Norris tried to take Piastri’s slipstream while launching for his fast lap — an attempt immediately thwarted by Oscar, who promptly slowed down by dropping three gears on the full straight.
“It was a coincidence,” Piastri commented, “maybe it’s not the most pleasant feeling to see someone slipstreaming you, but we’ll talk about it. Nothing unusual happened unless Lando reveals that he and Will (Joseph, Norris’s race engineer) had a plan!”
At that point, Lando intervened, smiling. “We had planned it all weekend! No, just kidding, actually I didn’t know Oscar would go out first. I tried to take the slipstream of someone and it happened to be him, it was just a coincidence.”
Inside McLaren, no internal slipstream strategy was planned; free practice clearly showed that the fight for pole position would be between their two drivers without any kind of help.
A different matter will be the briefing to be held tomorrow morning before the race start. Norris feels his chances of success are intact and quickly dismissed the qualifying result.
“A little oversteer in turn 1 or turn 2 and you already know it will be a tough lap,” Lando Norris explained, “but it’s fine, I still feel good. I’m happy with second place, especially at Barcelona, it’s not the end of the world, it’s still a positive weekend.”
The start will play a decisive role; the two papayas will have to try to avoid clashes while also keeping an eye on their mirrors, as behind them will start the Max Verstappen-George Russell duo who have much less to lose. Oscar quickly dismissed the issue: “We’ll see, there’s everything to do a good job,” in perfect Iceman style.
And speaking of Piastri, it did not go unnoticed how after securing pole position he didn’t even get on top of his car’s chassis back in the pit lane — no sign of celebration, even though this pole would have deserved it.
When it was pointed out to him, Oscar smiled and blushed a little. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s incredibly rewarding, but I don’t think I’m a particularly emotional person, that’s just how I am. There are moments when I feel emotional, but regarding today… well, it’s nice to start from pole position, but it’s not the end of the weekend, the points are up for grabs tomorrow.”
“In the end, it’s the race that counts, and regarding a race win in my case, it changes a lot how it comes. If you get it after fighting until the end against an opponent, then yes, I’m quite pumped, but if you have a certain gap in the last laps, you just think about not having problems, there’s less adrenaline, and maybe that’s why I celebrate some wins less than others. That’s just how I am…”
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