Piastri sees ‘plenty of positives’ despite tricky opening day in Vegas

Oscar Piastri is heading into the rest of the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend in confident spirits, insisting that his first day on the Strip Circuit delivered “plenty of positives” despite a heavily interrupted FP2 limiting his track time.

The McLaren driver opened his weekend with an encouraging FP1, securing eighth on the timesheets before FP2 descended into a red-flag-strewn session that offered barely any meaningful laps.

Piastri ultimately ended the second practice 14th, but his mood remained upbeat.

“I think FP1 was pretty good,” Piastri said after Thursday’s running. “Some things to work on, but overall I felt like it was a pretty good session. FP2, I did two laps for the whole session. Difficult to know exactly where we sit.

“I think clearly the car’s got decent pace, but not that many people got a great run on the softs. A little bit difficult to know exactly where we sit, but still plenty of positives I think, plenty of things to look through overnight.”

More Comfortable Than Last Year

Last year in Sin City, McLaren endured one of its toughest weekends, but Piastri believes the team is starting from a much healthier baseline this time.

When asked whether the car feels better than it did a year ago, he replied: “I think so, yes.

“Again, it’s just very difficult to know because obviously it was a bit wet at the start, the track was evolving a lot, so it’s just difficult to know exactly where everyone sits.

“I think we changed a few things into FP2 which seemed to feel pretty good. We’ll try and do some more tweaking overnight and see what we’ve got.”

Eyes Forward Into the Weekend

Despite the uncertainty created by limited laps and changing track conditions, Piastri remains relaxed –and ready for whatever the Vegas weekend serves up.

“I feel okay,” he said. “Would I have loved some more laps? Yes, but I think the track is going to continue to change quite a bit through the rest of the weekend.

“We’ll see what kind of weather we’ve got tomorrow, what we get here, and we’ll take it from there.”

With the circuit evolving by the hour and McLaren sensing untapped pace, Piastri enters Friday’s running with optimism and unfinished business.

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