Oscar Piastri, Australia’s McLaren driver, has promised to let personal ambition take second place to team priorities after a remarkable front-row lock out for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Piastri lines up alongside English-born team-mate Lando Norris, who is on pole, after the British team dominated Saturday’s qualifying session.
‘Of course when I miss out by two 100ths you think of all the little things you can do a bit better but it’s an amazing result for the team,’ Piastri said, before adding that the main goal is to keep both the papaya-coloured cars at the front come the race’s finish.
‘Of course I want to get into the lead, but we have both cars on the front row and we are trying to win this championship as a team, and we will be smart,’ the Australian said.
‘We want to keep it one-two and we will fight it amongst ourselves to see who gets one.’
Piastri is fifth in the drivers’ standings, on 124 points, while second-placed Norris has 171. Max Verstappen is well clear on 255. Piastri has yet to win a grand prix, but has finished second in Canada and Austria this year.
Piastri is becoming a fan favourite with his dry sense of humour which was on show again during qualification.
The Aussie was given the message to slow the field down in order to protect his teammate’s position towards the end of the final qualifying session.
Oscar Piastri (pictured) is becoming a fan favourite with his dry sense of humour
‘Priority here is on not getting any sporting infringements or penalties so that means not excessively impeding any cars in the pit exit,’ Piastri’s engineer said.
Piastri’s response was a silent raise of his eyebrows which has since gone viral.
Piastri also had fans laughing when questioned over radio whether it was Daniel Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda behind him trying to get on the track.
‘I think Tsunoda’s missing a couple of wheels,’ he said dryly.
‘So I don’t think he’ll be doing very many laps.’
‘Ah yes,’ the pits replied. ‘That’s fair.’
After the race he saluted the achievement of becoming part of the first McLaren pairing to take out the front row since 2012, in Brazil. ‘It’s the first one-two in qualifying for McLaren for a very long time, so I’m very happy,’ he said.
Referencing an awkward second practice session on Friday, when he finished down the standings in 13th, Piastri added: ‘A tricky day on my side yesterday so nice to bounce back.’