Oscar Piastri’s Sprint race prospects in Austin took a major hit on Friday when the McLaren driver was eliminated at the first hurdle in qualifying.
The Aussie found himself struggling with track limits at The Circuit of the Americas, admittedly for trying too hard during his final flyer in SQ1.
The McLaren charger had initially set the seventh fastest lap, more than good enough to progress to the next segment. However, his time was invalidated after he ran wide at the penultimate corner, leading to his unexpected elimination from qualifying.
“Most of the lap was good,” Piastri told F1 TV after his session was cut short. “I made a few mistakes in the last sector and obviously the second-last corner, I just tried to go a bit too fast and this is the result.
‘So it’s a shame, but if there’s one good thing about sprint weekends it’s that we have another shot tomorrow.”
The elimination came after a mixed start to the weekend for McLaren, with both Piastri and teammate Lando Norris struggling to find the speed and comfort they’ve had in recent races.
Despite this, Piastri had shown promising pace in the lone practice session earlier in the day, finishing fifth fastest, just 0.04 seconds behind Norris.
Still, neither driver looked as confident in the car as they have in previous rounds.
"It feels okay," commented Piastri. "Maybe not quite as strong as what it has been in the last few races, but I don’t think that’s because we’re weak, I think the others seem a little bit stronger."
Piastri was quick to dispel any concerns that McLaren was significantly off the pace, indicating that they were still competitive despite the tougher conditions in Austin.
"Let’s see. I’m sure we’re still well and truly in the fight,” he added. “It’s certainly not a case of we’re miles behind, but it’s maybe a little bit more difficult for us than a few of the other weekends."
However, starting 16th in the Sprint means that the 23-year-old will have his work cut out to score points in Saturday’s 30-minute mad dash, with only the top eight finishers being rewarded.
Piastri acknowledged the challenge ahead.
"We’ll see. It’s going to be tough, definitely to get to the points from where we are. But we’ll try. We’ll see what we can do,” he concluded.
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