Oscar Piastri qualified in P3 for the Abu Dhabi GP on Saturday. The Australian couldn’t match his teammate Lando Norris and pole-sitter Max Verstappen. The latter dealt the first mental blow to his title rivals. Piastri seemed to resign himself to the result afterwards. Earlier, McLaren cautiously announced that he might play second fiddle during the race to help teammate Lando Norris secure the title.
“It went pretty well,” Oscar Piastri reflected on his own performance in the qualifiers. “My lap in Q1 was very good to finally get into the rhythm.” The McLaren driver had struggled to keep up with the pace of his title rivals in the run-up to the Saturday event. “The last lap in Q3 was also just very good, there really wasn’t more to it,” he sighed. “Unfortunately, I just wasn’t fast enough today, but it promises to be an exciting race tomorrow.”
The top three in the championship will also start from the first three grid positions on Sunday. Championship leader Lando Norris only needs a podium finish to claim the championship, while Max Verstappen must knock his British rival off the podium. If Piastri wants his title dream to come true, he will have to compete for the win. “We’ll see if I can force a victory tomorrow,” he concluded. “Max looked incredibly fast in the quick laps and over one quick lap. We’ll see how high the pace is tomorrow.”
