Oscar Piastri secures front row start in Monaco as banter between Charles Leclerc and the Aussie star continues
- Piastri starts the Monaco GP from second position
- Hometown hero Charles Leclerc took pole
- Couple jokes about being ‘family’
Australian Oscar Piastri will start the Monaco Grand Prix from the front row after a thrilling performance in qualifying, finishing just behind hometown hero Charles Leclerc.
Max Verstappen’s record number of poles was brought to a halt by Charles Leclerc’s stunning lap on his home streets of Monaco.
On the final lap of Piastri he was just behind the Ferrari driver, while Carlos Sainz finished in third place, ahead of Lando Norris in the other McLaren.
Piastri believes he could have taken pole if no mistakes had been made on the final lap.
Oscar Piastri (photo) starts the Monaco Grand Prix from the front row after a scoring performance in qualifying
Charles Leclerc took pole position, ahead of Piastri and Carlos Sainz in third place
“I think if you had taken the second half of my first lap in Q3 and the first half of the second lap it would have been enough,” Piastri said.
‘A few mistakes at the end, but credit to Charles because he has been incredibly fast all weekend. At certain points I don’t think anyone thought we were going to get close to him.
‘[It’s] nice to start in the front row. I feel like it’s been a good weekend in terms of building momentum, and what better colors to do that in than these.”
Piastri has a running joke with Leclerc about finding family roots in Monaco, with Leclerc offering to adopt the 23-year-old if he can’t find them.
The Australian joined X after the session to continue the banter, writing: “Good day to the Leclerc family.”
He later shared a photo of himself and Leclerc and wrote: ‘Two locals in the front row. Who would have thought that?’.
Leclerc was also in on the joke, and when asked about racing the young Australian replied: “I mean, we’re family.”
“We’ll both start in the front row and have a meeting with my mother tonight, and hopefully she’ll calm us down.”
Piastri’s mother finds it all funny and announces to X that she is willing to give up her son.
“Apparently there’s an opening for a son in my family, @yukitsunoda07?” she wrote on X.
Piastri knows he has a big task ahead of him to pass Leclerc on Monaco’s infamously narrow circuit.
“A good start always helps, and if you can get into the lead you can control it very easily here, so that’s probably the first goal,” he said.
‘If not, then with strategy.
‘No matter how optimistic I want to be, catching up is not easy here. We will do our best, but starting from a good place, [there is the] chance of a good day tomorrow.’