Oscar Piastri has branded the opening two days of the Monaco Grand Prix as “messy” after qualifying third for Sunday’s race.

The Australian was one of several drivers in contention for pole position on Saturday afternoon, ultimately falling just under two tenths shy of McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Oscar Piastri laments ‘messy’ Monaco GP

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Piastri endured an uncharacteristic build up in Monaco, nosing into the barrier during practice at Sainte Devote that saw him damage his McLaren.

It wasn’t his only brush of the wall, with the championship leader finding, and occasionally stepping over the limit around the narrow Monaco streets.

“It’s been a pretty challenging time until Q1 to be honest,” the Australian admitted to the media, including PlanetF1.com, in Monaco.

“We got the car into a much better window for qualifying and I was much happier, but it’s just been a very messy weekend.

“I think I’ve hit more things this weekend than I have in my whole career.”

A year ago, Piastri was second on the grid to Charles Leclerc, finishing in that position in the race as the Ferrari driver famously won in front of his home crowd.

This year, he’s one place further back, a legacy of an unusually messy build up through practice.

“Just struggling with the balance; really struggling with, yeah, just confidence in the car,” Piastri confessed.

“I think it is in a much better place now than it was yesterday, for sure.

“I don’t think that was necessarily the problem at this point.

“But just kind of struggling to repeat the feeling I had last year through practice.

“The team did a good job of trying to put the car in a better window, and I think we definitely did that by qualifying. But definitely some laps I would rather have done again through the weekend.”

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Piastri has made something of a trademark for a subdued approach to race weekends, gradually building into an event through practice.

It was an approach that saw the Melburnian gain strong track time during his rookie season, devoid of significant mistakes.

Piastri was the only driver on the grid to compete every racing lap last season and, so far in 2025, is the only driver in the field to have started inside the top four at every event.

His bumpy start to the weekend is therefore out of kilter for the 24-year-old, before he recovered to land himself on provisional pole in the closing minutes of qualifying.

Though he ultimately fell to third, Piastri considered it a positive result nonetheless.

“It’s not been that straightforward, but I think to come out with this result is quite positive,” he observed.

“The laps I did at the end of qualifying felt pretty good; obviously not quite enough but I think at a track like this when you’ve had a messy build up, you’re always going to leave a little bit on the table.”

This year’s Monaco Grand Prix brings with it a new challenge, with the introduction of a second mandatory pit stop during the race.

Introduced in an attempt to spice up the on-track action, it sees teams venturing into the unknown strategically.

“I want to win the race too,” he insisted when asked if he’d work to help ensure Norris delivered McLaren victory.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty chaotic race, but we’ll see what happens.

“It’ll be just as important, it’s just that instead of having on pit stop where you need to manipulate things around, it’s two,” he added of how he sees the race playing out.

“I mean, the cars aren’t smaller, so the overtaking is still not going to be very high, I don’t think, but there will be a lot more uncertainty with strategy.”

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