Piastri says first Q3 in Jeddah ‘not expected’ as Norris takes blame for hitting Q1 barrier
Oscar Piastri says a ninth place in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was better than he expected ahead of the weekend as teammate Lando Norris admitted he let his team down after crashing into a barrier and being knocked out in the first quarter.
Piastri showed good form on Saturday night in Jeddah, making it to Q3 for the first time in his career and, after two laps in the final stretch, was ninth on the time sheet, within a second of Sergio Pérez’s pole position. .
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With Charles Leclerc due to get 10th on the grid in Sunday’s race, Piastri will line up in eighth, on the fourth row of the grid, alongside seven-time world champion and former McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton, much to the delight of the Australian driver.
“It was good,” Piastri said. “I think we were in a pretty good place in FP3 with balance and that also moved into qualifying which was nice. So, feeling a little better than yesterday.
“Besides, I’m just getting more confident in the car and picking up speed again around Jeddah. Everything was good, I had some good laps and here we are in the top ten.”
Piastri says top 10 qualification was better than expected
With his first outing in Q3, Piastri can count on his first F1 points in Sunday’s race. And when asked about the possibility of finishing in the top 10, he replied, “(Points) are definitely on offer. It will be hard. I think this result was probably not as expected, to be completely honest. But we will try our best.
READ MORE: Jeddah pole seater Perez hopes to keep ‘lion’ Alonso at bay as he predicts how much Verstappen can recover from 15th place
“Our race pace, which we thought was actually better than our qualifying pace yesterday. Let’s see if this is true tomorrow. But we will try our best.”
He added: “Obviously our straight-line speed isn’t exactly our forte, so we’ll see how it goes, but we’re sure we’ll try to fight for the points.”
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2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying: Lando Norris crashes into wall and damages his McLaren in Q1
On the other side of the McLaren garage, Piastri’s team-mate Norris’ qualifying came to an end after the Briton made what he called a “stupid mistake” crashing into a barrier in the penultimate corner, causing him to start in 19th place in Sunday’s race.
“Honestly, I shouldn’t have made a stupid mistake,” said Norris, who finished seventh in Jeddah last year. “(I) paid the price very quickly, so upset. I should have easily entered Q2 and possibly Q3 and let the team down today, so I’m annoyed.”
READ MORE: Challenging Perez to win ‘not the goal’, says Alonso despite qualifying on the front row in Jeddah
When asked what result is possible on Sunday, Norris replied: “I don’t know yet. There is potential, the car works better than in Bahrain, so I want to be a little more optimistic.
“But overtaking at this track is probably harder than in Bahrain, so I don’t know what to expect yet, I haven’t thought about it, so we’ll see tonight.”
