18/10/2025 07:30
Oscar Piastri addressed his striking deficit in sprint qualifying
to Lando Norris at the Circuit of the Americas, putting it down to
a "scruffy lap". Across practice and all parts of sprint
qualifying at the United States Grand Prix, Piastri found himself
comfortably behind his team-mate. Come the end of sprint
qualifying, Piastri found himself four-tenths adrift of polesitter
Max Verstappen and three-tenths behind Norris. It marked a
surprisingly significant lap time difference between the Australian
and his team-mate, who was defeated to pole by Verstappen by
0.071s. However, Piastri is not concerned by his deficit, due to
understanding where he lost the lap time. Asked if he knew where
time was lost, Piastri said: "Yeah, in quite a few places. I think
a pretty scruffy lap, to be honest. I just didn't really get it
together. "So in some ways, I feel a bit fortunate to be third,
but I think the pace in the car is good and it's nothing major.
"It's not like it's been a disastrous day at all, just been a
little bit of a messy lap that I can hopefully find out [in
qualifying]." With Verstappen and Norris on the front row for the
sprint race, it means all three title contenders are starting at
the front. COTA has one of the most unique first corners in the
world where accidents are common, as is making a late dive.
Discussing his plan for the first corner, Piastri revealed: "See
what happens at the start. If I can get a good launch, then try and
put myself in the right spot. "Knowing where the right spot is
into Turn 1 here is often tricky. So let's see what happens."
