McLaren F1 star Oscar Piastri has ‘made quite a big improvement’ in Monaco Grand Prix qualifying

Oscar Piastri is delighted to have ‘made quite a big improvement’ in his McLaren after the Aussie F1 young gun qualified 11th for the Monaco Grand Prix – missing Q3 by just 0.018 seconds.

The 22-year-old has had a fast start to his F1 career, thanks in large part to the now notorious unreliability of the orange McLaren, but he continues to impress the racing world as he continues to make improvements despite the car.

To no one’s surprise, Max Verstappen will start first on the grid for Sunday night’s (11pm AEST) race at the iconic Monaco circuit – while Fernando Alonso continues his brilliant start to the season in his Aston Martin to qualify second.

Alpine star Esteban Ocon starts third, with Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris just ahead of the Australian in tenth.

Although the rookie would have loved to move up the grid, he was clearly very pleased with the win he made after a disappointing race in Miami on the final start.

“We changed a few things on the car,” Piastri said after qualifying.

“We went back and forth a bit over the weekend.

“For qualifying there was not seven-tenths in the car, so I think I made quite an improvement.”

Six races into his F1 career, the Aussie is often a slow starter during the race weekend. He builds up his speed as practice progresses and doesn’t take many risks in a car now labeled by many destructive fans as the ‘orange tractor’.

This time he started much better – something the young star has focused on as he adjusts to life on the grid.

“I’ve always kind of started the first lap with the back foot, trying to catch up and think [I] started qualifying a bit better this time and then had a bit more confidence for the rest of the session,” said Piastri.

‘So it was quite a big step that I was very happy with.

“Obviously I think going forward I want to be faster than the first qualifying run – that makes life a bit easier.”

McLaren managing director Andrea Stella was pleased with his protégé’s progress as the team finally had something to smile about after a dismal start to the season.

“Oscar made a really good step after his practice performance, going through Q1 comfortably and just a fraction away from Q3,” he said in a statement. statement on the team’s website.

Piastri said it wasn’t just his own confidence that helped improve the speed, but that the car itself performed much better than he expected – although as a sign of his relentless pursuit of perfection, he still wants more and more improvement .

“The car also gave me a bit more confidence in qualifying, probably a bit more push as well – I had to be close to the walls,” he said.

“I think just with driving style and things like that, especially around a circuit like Monaco, it’s taken me longer than I would have liked to get up to speed this weekend.

“It was almost a case of once I fixed one thing, the rest took care of itself.

“But I think I just felt more comfortable – a little bit from the car, but I just started the qualifying session well, which I didn’t have in all the practice sessions.”

Despite a staggeringly successful junior career that saw him become only the third driver to win F3 and F2 in successive years, Piastri admitted it has taken some time to adjust to life in the high-flying world of the F1 paddock.

Having moved to the UK from Melbourne to pursue his racing dream, Piastri now lives alone in an apartment in London, near the team’s base in Woking.

While self-confessed “introverted” often has glamorous girlfriend Lily Zneimer over “when she’s not in college,” Piastri said he enjoys time out on his own away from the F1 bubble.

“It’s fun, I like spending time alone,” he told the The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I would say I’m fairly introverted, so for me I’ve been living with a roommate for the last three years, but with the schedules we had, he was also a different driver, and we’d rotate who was there on different race weekends, so I’m used to that now.’

Having spent last season as Alpine’s reserve driver before moving to McLaren, the Aussie is just happy to be behind the wheel again.

“There’s plenty I need to work on to keep myself busy and motivated, and honestly I’m just really happy to be in F1, as a professional driver after sitting still last year. It’s just a nice feeling to to be in a race car again,” he said.

“Considering I haven’t raced for a year before this season, new team environment, new category in Formula 1, I think I’m pretty happy with how things have gone so far.”

At the end of the day, however, it’s clear what’s on his mind most: putting in a good performance on F1’s most famous track.

“It’s a shame I missed Q3 so little, but I’m happy with the improvement I’ve made. We struggled through the practice sessions so to get so close to Q3 in qualifying I’m pretty happy,” he told McLaren’s website.

“Only one place in the top ten and anything can happen tomorrow. We’ll work hard tonight and see what we can do to get into the points tomorrow.’