Oscar Piastri missed out on pole for the Miami Grand Prix despite matching Max Verstappen’s fastest lap in the second part of qualifying.
The McLaren driver did a 1:26.2 at the end of Q2, which would have put him a couple of thousandths off Verstappen’s time, while his theoretical best was a 1:26.1.
Piastri was left 0.171s off Verstappen’s pole lap of a 1:26.204s, which stunned everyone in the F1 paddock, after Red Bull were off the pace for much of the weekend.
Damon Hill thought Verstappen was ‘squirming’ in qualifying en route to his pole lap, having noticed him driving the RB21 on a knife-edge through the first sector.
Analysing where he lost time on Sky Sports F1, former driver Anthony Davidson felt Piastri didn’t do one ‘Verstappen-esque’ thing during qualifying.
Oscar Piastri missed out on pole by not doing ‘Verstappen-esque’ Turn 8
Verstappen was superior than everyone else going through the first sector, having stringed together three of the fastest corners at Turns 6, 7 and 8 according to the mini sectors.
Piastri made a mistake exiting Turn 8 when his McLaren oversteered exiting the corner, something Davidson believes cost him a shot at pole.
“It’s not going to make sense until you see other drivers that were fighting against him [Verstappen]. Oscar Piastri, his nearest rival at Turn 7 and Turn 8, watch the steering wheel,” said Davidson.
“Mid corner, gets a snap of oversteer, little bit scruffy, little bit scrappy. The drivers are pushing for all their worth, but that wasn’t a Verstappen-esque Turn 8.”
Oscar Piastri starts behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Piastri will start behind Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the second time this weekend, having been beaten to P3 on the grid at the end of qualifying.
The Australian was beaten to pole for the Sprint race by Antonelli, and with the mistake in qualifying for the Grand Prix, it enabled the Mercedes driver to start further ahead.
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Oscar Piastri |
106 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
97 |
| 3 |
Max Verstappen |
87 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
78 |
| 5 |
Charles Leclerc |
47 |
| 6 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
40 |
| 7 |
Lewis Hamilton |
37 |
| 8 |
Alexander Albon |
20 |
| 9 |
Esteban Ocon |
14 |
| 10 |
Lance Stroll |
14 |
Antonelli was not happy with Piastri after he bullied his way past him exiting the first corner in the Sprint, while Damon Hill felt it was ‘tragic’ seeing the Italian lose the lead.
He will be keen to make amends in the Grand Prix, with him potentially on course to break Verstappen’s record for the youngest polesitter at 18 years old and 228 days. If Antonelli finishes where he started, he’ll beat the record by four days.
