Piastri 'felt like we were in the ballpark' for Baku pole

Oscar Piastri said that he had been confident that McLaren had always been in the running for pole position in Baku for tomorrow's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and wasn't surprised by his front row starting spot.

Piastri finished 0.321s off the pace of Charles Leclerc who took pole for Ferrari, but he was a tenth clear of Leclerc's team mate Carlos Sainz and last year's race winner, Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

He insisted he had always been sure of the pace of the car despite his team mate Lando Norris struggling to complete strong laps throughout practice, and then missing the first cut at the start of today's qualifying.

“I think I said yesterday I felt like we were in the ballpark,” Piastri said, speaking in parc fermeafter the final round of the session. "So I’m not massively surprised to be sat here.

"I definitely didn’t feel like we were the quickest yesterday, but again, I feel like it’s so close between the top four teams that you never quite know who’s going to come out on top..

• Read also: Leclerc wins fourth straight Baku pole as Norris misses first cut

Piastri suggested that any one of half a dozen drivers could have walked away with pole today. “Red Bull were looking very quick at certain points, Ferrari obviously looking very quick, even Mercedes at points as well.

“So, yeah, I always thought we were in a pretty good place [and] not that surprised to be here," he said.

However, the Australian wasn't happy with his final run, which he suggested over the team radio had been "probably the messiest lap I’ve ever done in my life."

“It certainly wasn’t the cleanest," he told the media. “A few big moments in there and a couple of love taps with the wall. I pushed everything that I could to get out of it, and maybe a little bit too much in some places.

"This track rewards commitment, and on the last lap I knew I had a lot less to lose, so I was trying to maximise the potential of the car to get the most out of it, and I think I did.

"I got a bit closer to the walls than I might have liked, but I’m very happy with my performance in Q3," he said. "I don’t think I had enough to get pole today, so I’m pretty happy with the front row."

Based on the tight results of practice and qualifying, Piastri is predicting a close fight when the lights go out to get the race underway on Sunday. “Hopefully we can try and put up a fight tomorrow.

“I think it’s very, very even,” he said. “Through all of practice it looked very tight between us, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. “To be honest, I was a bit surprised Red Bull wasn’t a bit further up at the end of Q3.

“I think our race pace looked good yesterday, but nowadays the top four teams are so close in race pace that qualifying often makes a massive difference. "We can be very optimistic, it should be a very exciting race.

“I’ve got confidence that our car will be quick, but yeah - I think there’s definitely seven other cars out on the track that are certainly not any slower."

"It’s a very strong performance from Oscar to be P2 at this track, second only to Charles Leclerc who already has a few pole positions at this circuit," said McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.

"We were able to extract the potential pace from the car and secure a front-row start for tomorrow," he continued. "It shows the strength and maturity of Oscar, and offers us a good chance to fight for an important result tomorrow.

“It’s been a mixed Qualifying for us here with Lando unfortunate to not get his second Q1 lap in due to an unexpected yellow flag,"he added. "A frustrating result, but Baku often throws up opportunities throughout the race

"We will work tonight to ensure we are in a condition to maximise our result and score valuable points tomorrow."

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