Piastri is surprised "how each car is generating their lap time"

Having ended up second quickest on the grid for today's British Grand Prix, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri conceded that he is surprised "how each car is generating their lap time"

McLaren looked strong on the opening day at the British Grand prix, and they managed to carry that form over to Saturday. However, the Woking-based team was challenged by the Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Mercedes driver George Russell also joined tha party in the final segment of qualifying.

Both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were nip and tuck through Q1 and Q2, with Piastri grabbing provisional pole from his team mate in Q3. But the Australian couldn’t improve on his last flying run, and Norris’ scrappy lap was not enough to beat his team mate.

The papaya team looked to have locked out the front row bar for a last gasp flier from reigning champion Max Verstappen, who managed to get the better of both McLarens with a brilliant late effort.

Commenting on his qualifying, Piastri stated: "The first lap was mega to be honest. I was trying to think how I was going to go faster and I didn't. The last lap was a little bit messy but it's been tight all weekend.

"I think the first lap was very good, I don't know how much the track would have improved but a little bit on the table, we'll never know if it was enough."

"It was a good lap. I was very happy with it, but I kind of felt like every run, the track was improving a bit. So, I felt like I probably needed a bit more, which was correct. The second lap was a bit scruffy, couple of moments that caught me a bit by surprise.

"I mean, I always hate blaming wind, but I need to see if it was the wind. But also, maybe trying a bit too hard in a couple of places as well to make up for it. Overall, pretty happy. It's been tight all weekend, especially through qualifying, so P2 is not a bad result.

Despite the fact that just two tenths of a second separated the top five in qualifying, Piastri was not surprised given the performance showed by the top teams across the practice sessions.

"Not necessarily. For me, what's the biggest surprise is how each car is generating their lap time. You look at the speed traces and they all look completely different, but they end up basically at the same point at the end of the lap.

"So that's been quite interesting to get our heads around. I'm not that surprised that Max is quick here. It's quite similar to Suzuka, similar conditions to Suzuka.

"Clearly, they found some pace from yesterday. I think the big surprise was Ferrari yesterday, and even this morning. So not a huge surprise that it was so tight. Maybe how many teams were involved was a surprise, but it's been tight in nine out of ten qualifyings this year.