By Alan Baldwin
SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) – McLaren provided the ‘rocket ship’ and Australian Formula One rookie Oscar Piastri proved his potential by blasting to third on the grid in British Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
With British team mate Lando Norris lining up on the front row alongside Red Bull’s pole-sitter and runaway championship leader Max Verstappen, there were whoops and high-fives all round.
“To pull that off in Q3 (the final phase) like that was a mega result and obviously both of us have now got the new bits on our car and they’re working very well,” Piastri told reporters.
“It’s a very special moment, to be in the top three,” added the 2021 Formula Two champion. “It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been to one of these (top three) press conferences, so it’s nice to be back.”
Team principal Andrea Stella hailed the youngster’s performance.
“Today’s result indeed can be seen also as a confirmation of the exceptional job that Oscar has been doing,” said the Italian.
“The speed was there, we knew it was there.
“We are really happy for Oscar himself that today he could show what we knew already in terms of his speed, consistency, adaptability to the various conditions that we had today.”
The qualifying was the best so far of Piastri’s fledgling Formula One career and he recognised it also as a “massive confidence boost”
“I’ve made a few mistakes in Q3 through the year so it’s nice to have a solid lap on the board and to have it for P3 as well is even better,” he said.
“It’s just nice to be fighting for much higher positions now. There’s only two more spots left for today but I’ll try to keep pushing.
“(In) the races, I still need to figure a few things out which will come with time. So that’s a big focus, but I’m very happy at the moment to be up here in P3.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
