Oscar Piastri has delivered the second fastest time in practice at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, impressing after his McLaren was given the full package of upgrades.
It left the Australian predicting more great things for his British-based team in Sunday’s race following his teammate Lando Norris’s triumph at the Miami Grand Prix last time out.
On that occasion a fortnight ago, Briton Norris took full advantage of the full complement of upgrades to win his maiden F1 race, while Piastri’s car had only a select number of the new components.
On level terms, Piastri enjoyed the better day over two practice sessions this time as Norris finished eighth and 12th in the two sessions compared to the Aussie’s ninth and second.
It left Piastri, who had looked set to challenge for a podium position himself in Miami before a collision with Carlos Sainz, encouraged that he too could be in the shake-up this weekend.
Aussie Oscar Piastri is all smiles after clocking the second fastest time in practice in Italy
Piastri has had a full suite of upgrades carried out on his McLaren to boost his podium chances
The Aussie is bullish about his chances at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix following practice
After finishing second only to Charles Leclerc in Friday’s second session, Melburnian Piastri, having clocked a 1min 16.098sec lap to the Ferrari driver’s 1:15.906, told reporters: ‘I think honestly it’s been an encouraging day for us.
‘The pace has been good, both in the qualifying runs and the race run, so I’m feeling pretty happy. I felt pretty comfy with the car from the moment we got on track.
‘Ferrari have looked quick, Mercedes looked quick as well at points, but I think we are definitely in the fight. We’ll try to find a bit more tomorrow, but where we were today is not unrealistic.’
Championship leader Max Verstappen had another tough day, finishing only seventh on the timesheets.
Piastri noted: ‘It is very tight out there. Red Bull have looked a bit up and down, which is a bit unusual for them.’
Like the Aussie, Verstappen, winner of four of six races this season, also had new parts to his Red Bull but he went off track in both sessions while finishing fifth in the morning and seventh in the afternoon.
‘A difficult day. Just difficult to get a good balance and just not really feeling comfortable in the car, moving around a lot,’ said the Dutchman.