Oscar Piastri had to settle for third on the grid for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a challenging qualifying at the Baku City Circuit. The McLaren driver was just 0.001s behind Charles Leclerc in second, but the gap to polesitter George Russell was a massive 0.838s. Mercedes had been dominant all weekend, with Russell topping every session except FP3, which Max Verstappen claimed by a mere 0.099s.
Piastri briefly held provisional pole after the first runs in Q3, but could not respond when Russell set a 1m42.526s. "Yes, it's been not an easy weekend from a few areas. We've not been particularly quick," Piastri said. "We're also running cable ties on our car through Friday, which is never a great sign. So, it's been a little bit of a tricky one for us."
However, Piastri noted that the team improved in qualifying, a pattern that has occurred several times this season. "It's not the first time this year that we get to qualifying, we take all the fuel out and the car just comes alive more," he explained. "Clearly compared to George and Mercedes, we're still a long way off. But it's certainly not the first time where we get to qualifying and things look a bit brighter."
Third matches Piastri's best qualifying result of the season, having also started from the same position in Japan and Italy. Yet he admitted that finding the car's operating window around the Baku street circuit remained difficult. "I think some laps here and there have been strong, but it's been a lot in between that haven't been very strong," he added. "Our car needs some specific things, and trying to find those things on a street circuit is really tough."
The scale of Russell's advantage also tempered Piastri's expectations for the race. Asked if he could fight the polesitter, he joked, "If he's got a tow bar that I can hook onto the back of, maybe! But we'll see what we can do. The Mercedes look incredibly quick here, but I think everyone else looks like they're in a similar-ish kind of pack. Our race pace looked pretty good yesterday. So I think we can hang on and battle in the pack behind George and see what lap Kimi starts coming through as well."
Piastri's teammate, Lando Norris, was similarly downbeat about McLaren's prospects. Nevertheless, Piastri's solid qualifying performance offers hope that McLaren can optimise its race strategy to secure maximum points in Baku.
Baca Juga
Lando Norris gagal meraih posisi start depan di F1 Azerbaijan setelah kesalahan di kualifikasi. Ia mengaku lebih baik mati mencoba daripada puas dengan posisi kelima.
Oscar Piastri akui McLaren tak mampu menantang Mercedes di Baku. Pembalap Australia itu start ketiga, tertinggal 0,838 detik dari George Russell.
Baku GP Azerbaijan 2026 membalikkan hierarki: Russell dan Leclerc bangkit, Mercedes dominan, Ferrari kembali ke barisan depan. Analisis lengkap di sini.
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