Oscar Piastri admitted he considered bailing out of the lap that ultimately brought him his first career Grand Prix pole position in China, before the “hairpin of my life” helped him.

That was the description he gave of his effort around the corner at the end of Shanghai’s 1.2km back straight over team radio, and when asked about that moment, the McLaren driver revealed he had thought about abandoning his lap altogether.

Oscar Piastri almost bailed out of Chinese GP pole lap before ‘hairpin of my life’

Piastri broke the outright lap record at Shanghai, which in itself had previously been broken by Lewis Hamilton on Friday, to earn his first career Grand Prix pole on Saturday, pipping Mercedes’ George Russell to the P1 grid slot.

In doing so, the McLaren driver revealed he was running slower than his initial Q3 run prior to that hairpin, with the drivers dropping from more than 210mph in the heaviest braking zone on the track to navigate the slow right-hander.

With that, Piastri is set to lead the field away for a Grand Prix for the first time in his career on Sunday.

More from qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix

👉 Chinese GP: Piastri secures pole with lap record in qualifying, and a ‘little scream in my helmet’

👉 F1 starting grid: What is the grid order for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix?

“It means a lot,” he said after the session.

“I’ve been close a few times now, and it’s nice to finally have my first pole.

“I’ve had a couple of Sprint poles, but to have the first Grand Prix pole, it means a bit more. So, yeah, pretty pumped to be honest.

“I’ve worked hard for it, and I feel like the start of season has been strong. Just, obviously, the result in Melbourne was a shame, but I feel like I’ve been doing a good job otherwise..

“My first lap was was honestly better than my second lap, but just at the hairpin at the end of the straight, I lost a bit of time and didn’t do the best hairpin.

“And then the second lap, I was about two tenths down on myself, so I kind of just went, ‘Why not send it into the hairpin?’ And I gained those two tenths back, and then found a little bit more in the last corner.

“Honestly, without that hairpin, I was tempted to box before that. So I’m pretty happy now that I didn’t, but I just did a good corner. That was all.”

Read next: Toto Wolff’s ‘struggling left, right and centre’ assessment despite Russell P2