Oscar Piastri’s qualifying at Austin was far from impressive. After causing a major incident in the Sprint race, the world championship leader struggled to compete for the top positions in official qualifying. Is the “icy” Australian beginning to feel the pressure of the title fight?
The Sprint incident controversy
The #81 driver was widely discussed on Saturday for causing a massive collision at the start of the Sprint race, which also took out his teammate Lando Norris. Initially, Andrea Stella and McLaren CEO Zak Brown heavily blamed Nico Hulkenberg. However, after reviewing the incident, Brown retracted his previous statements. As for Piastri, he referred to the contact as a “racing incident.”
“I really think it was just a normal racing incident,” Piastri told Mara Sangiorgio. “There were a lot of cars behind me, and some ended up quite long in the corner, so yes, I would call it a racing incident.”
Impact on qualifying
Even while downplaying the effect of his Sprint move, Piastri admitted it may have negatively affected his qualifying. Throughout the session, the #81 driver never seemed able to challenge for pole or even get close to Norris, ultimately finishing P6.
“Did the incident complicate my weekend? Yes, regarding qualifying positions, definitely. But I don’t think there was much different I could have done,” he explained.
“Of course, if I knew I had made such a mistake on track, I would be very angry with myself. But I think I lacked a bit of pace throughout the weekend here in Austin. I did a fairly good lap, but not perfect: I missed a bit of margin today to do more,” concluded the world championship leader.
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