Oscar Piastri will start his debut Australian Grand Prix from 16th on the grid after a disappointing qualifying session on Saturday.
Piastri showed promise in practice, posting the 14th fastest time of the third run. However, the 21-year-old failed to jump into the top-15 by the end of the first round of qualifying.
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Piastri appeared to struggle with his car set-up, complaining over the team radio that his McLaren was underbalanced.
“We adjusted the front wing a little bit for the last run and that maybe wasn’t quite the best for the track conditions improving,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1.
“A little bit of inexperience on my side potentially but it wasn’t a big issue. It was maybe only a small tweak that wouldn’t have cost us too much.”
After failing to put together a complete lap, the Melburnian slowed late in the first trimester to build space for one last push.
However the pacing compromised his tyre temperature and traffic around the track caused havoc.
“It wasn’t the best preparation for the last lap but it was similar for the cars around me,” Piastri said.
“All weekend it has been difficult to get the first lap going with the tyres because it’s so cold and with the nature of the tarmac and the track as well.”
With a time of 1:18.517, Piastri was eliminated from qualifying – just 0.04 seconds behind Yuki Tsunoda in 14th and three tenths behind his teammate, Lando Norris.
“Obviously a shame to be out in Q1. Just missing those last couple of tenths – I’m sure there’s some margin on driving,” Piastri said.
“It felt like a good lap but nothing amazing. We’ve said the whole season it’s so tight between the teams that are around us and I think today showed that. Just not quite quick enough.”
Former world champion Jenson Button was disappointed for the rookie racing in front of his home crowd for the first time this weekend.
“Oh, that’s painful. Painful. His teammate was up in P12,” he said in commentary for Sky Sports.
“It’s so difficult in those conditions. He’s never experienced that before. You can do multiple laps on a set of tyres, but [he] just didn’t get the lap together in the end, which is a shame.”
With Norris qualifying 13th fastest, McLaren is under pressure to score its first points of the season.
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