Martin Brundle and Damon Hill left impressed by ‘rally car’ trait in Oscar Piastri during Miami Grand Prix qualifying

Oscar Piastri will be left feeling like he was robbed on the Saturday of the Miami Grand Prix, having missed out on the Sprint race win and pole for the main race.

A late Safety Car during a tricky Sprint race in wet conditions at Miami enabled Piastri’s teammate, Lando Norris, to take victory after he stayed out an extra lap.

Then in qualifying, Piastri missed out on pole by 0.171s after Max Verstappen put in a surprise lap to snatch it from McLaren. Damon Hill said he saw Verstappen ‘squirming’ on his way to pole, while driving on the knife-edge of the RB21.

The Australian had done a similar lap earlier in qualifying to Verstappen, but made a mistake on his final run at Turn 8, which caused him to miss out on pole.

When looking at the laps, Martin Brundle and Hill were both impressed with one thing Piastri was doing at the tricky Turns 14/15 complex.

Martin Brundle and Damon Hill spot ‘rally car’ trait in Oscar Piastri

Piastri could be seen with all four wheels off the track while entering the chicane at Turn 14, as he jumped over the kerb at entry.

Brundle spotted it while commentating on Sky Sports F1, but felt it probably cost him more time than he gained: “Look at this. All four wheels are off the ground, that’s a great photograph. He [Piastri] actually lands like a rally car, probably got a little bit greedy on the kerb.”

Damon Hill also spotted the same driving trait when he was commentating on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, branding it impressive that he kept the car out of the barriers in the narrow section.

“Oscar Piastri going over 14, 15 and launching the car over the kerbs rally style. He actually got clean air with all four wheels off the ground. That was impressive, if a little bit hairy,” said Hill.

Max Verstappen could close gap to Oscar Piastri after Sprint headache

Verstappen’s impressive display in qualifying could enable him to close the gap to Piastri, if he converts the pole into a victory.

The Dutchman has only won one race so far this year at Japan, having done the same at Suzuka. Verstappen was demoted to P16 in the Miami GP Sprint after being handed a 10-second time penalty by the stewards.

The penalty was issued after Verstappen was released into the path of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with the Red Bull being at fault for the unsafe release.

Red Bull last came under fire in Bahrain for clumsy pit stops after encountering an issue with their traffic light system.