Oscar Piastri has revealed his “biggest surprise” after being beaten to pole position for the British Grand Prix by Max Verstappen.
Piastri will line up on the front row alongside Verstappen after the Dutchman put in a near-perfect lap to steal top spot away during qualifying in Silverstone.
Scruffy lap cost Oscar Piastri a shot at British GP pole
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Piastri’s best effort came on his first lap in the final part of the three-part qualifying hour, but proved just over a tenth of a second shy of the lap laid down by Verstappen.
An effort in the moments before the chequered flag proved just under a tenth slower than the 1:24.995s the Aussie set out of the gates in Qualifying 3.
Still, it proved good enough for a front row berth, 0.015s faster than McLaren team-mate Lando Norris and 0.034s better than George Russell in the lead Mercedes in fourth.
Ferrari too proved a threat throughout qualifying, painting a picture of a British Grand Prix with potentially four teams in contention for victory.
“What’s the biggest surprise is how each car is generating their lap time,” Piastri said.
“You look at the speed traces and they all look completely different, but they end up basically at the same point at the end of the lap.
“So that’s been quite interesting to get our heads around.”
It prompted the championship leader to draw comparisons to the Japanese Grand Prix, where Verstappen produced a stunning qualifying lap to steal pole in Suzuka.
The Red Bull pilot went on to control the race the following day to chalk up his first win of the season.
Similarities in both the venue and the conditions left Piastri unsurprised Verstappen in particular became a factor.
“I’m not that surprised that Max is quick here,” Piastri ventured.
“It’s quite similar to Suzuka, similar conditions to Suzuka. Clearly, they found some pace from yesterday.
“I think the big surprise was Ferrari yesterday, and even this morning. So not a huge surprise that it was so tight. Maybe how many teams were involved was a surprise, but it’s been tight in nine out of ten qualifyings this year.”
In Japan, Verstappen proved impossible to overtake.
Once ahead, he was able to keep the two McLaren drivers behind, Norris ahead of Piastri, in what proved a frustrating day in the office for the Australian.
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While the Silverstone circuit shares similarities with Suzuka, it does present greater overtaking opportunities.
However, to exploit those, Piastri will have to overcome a significant straight-line speed advantage carried by Verstappen.
The four-time world champion trimmed out the downforce on his car ahead of qualifying, making his Red Bull especially rapid in a straight line.
“I think the tyres will be a bit more interesting than they were in Japan, potentially,” Piastri added when asked about the overtaking chances in Silverstone.
“Also with the different strengths of different cars, we’ll see which seems to be the better compromise tomorrow. I hope so. If it’s good for one overtake, then I’d be pretty happy. But let’s wait and see.”
Piastri’s need to overtake comes after falling short of claiming pole position, a result of his inability to improve on his initial Qualifying 3 effort.
“It was a good lap,” he said of that first lap.
“I was very happy with it, but I kind of felt like every run, the track was improving a bit. So, I felt like I probably needed a bit more, which was correct.
“The second lap was a bit scruffy, couple of moments that caught me a bit by surprise.
“I always hate blaming wind, but I need to see if it was the wind, but also, maybe trying a bit too hard in a couple of places as well to make up for it.
“Overall, pretty happy. It’s been tight all weekend, especially through qualifying, so P2 is not a bad result.”
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