Oscar Piastri admits Jeddah Qualifying lap was ‘the best I could have done’ as he anticipates ‘tough race’ from P2

Oscar Piastri feels that his final effort in Qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was “the best I could have done” after being beaten to pole position by Max Verstappen by a margin of just 0.010s.

A dramatic Q3 session saw Piastri become the sole McLaren to enter the fight for pole after Lando Norris suffered a heavy crash early on, bringing out the red flags as the Briton’s day came to an end.

While Piastri initially looked to have displaced George Russell in the battle for P1 when the session resumed, Verstappen surged through to snatch the position, pushing the Australian down to P2.

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - APRIL 19: Pole position qualifier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and — Piastri lost out on pole position to Verstappen in Jeddah

When asked about the fact that he had missed out on pole position, Piastri responded: “To be honest, I was pretty happy with it. There wasn’t too much more left in that lap, so [I’m] quite happy with the job I did.

“I think it was playing catch-up a little bit through the first part of Qualifying and then that last lap felt more or less like the best I could have done. I think Max has done a good job, I think it’s another high-speed circuit for them where they seem to be having a little bit more success but he’s done a good job again obviously.

MUST SEE: Norris dramatically crashes out of Q3 in Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying

“Still a lot to fight for tomorrow. I think our pace is good, it’s going to be a tough race and the tyres are a bit softer than last year, so we’ll see if it plays to our advantage.”

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - APRIL 19: Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the (81) McLaren MCL39 Mercedes — Piastri felt he was playing "catch-up" through the first part of Qualifying

Pushed on how difficult it is to extract the maximum from a lap around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the 24-year-old said: “It’s tough around here, and once you kind of fall out of rhythm a little bit it’s very hard to get back into it.

“You kind of need to get all the corners right, because if you don’t get one right it means you don’t get about six in a row right. It’s a difficult track for sure but, at night, soft tyres, high grip, it’s one of the best tracks we go to.

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from Qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP as Verstappen takes remarkable pole

“Lots of adrenaline, [I’m] shaking a bit from driving around the streets but it’s a really cool circuit and it will be a fun race tomorrow.”