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Oscar Piastri admitted he was “a little scared” after his first lap in SQ2 was deleted for track limits, leaving him vulnerable heading into the final minutes of the session.
Piastri’s first effort in the second part of sprint qualifying was deleted after he cut the kerb too much on the exit of Raidillon.
The Australian was able to put a time on the board, but by that point, his tyres were past their best.
Piastri dropped to 10th in the order, narrowly making it into the pole position shootout for the sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps.
Piastri saved his best until the end, storming to pole by nearly 0.5s ahead of Max Verstappen.
More impressively, however, Piastri was 0.6s ahead of teammate and main title rival, Lando Norris.
Reflecting on sprint qualifying, Piastri said after the session: “It was a good lap. A little scared in SQ2 with the lap deletion, but no, the car’s been mega all day, and I feel like I’ve been able to put in a lot of good laps.
“So, thanks to the team, the car’s been great, and this is a track I love. It’s my favourite one of the year and, I don’t know, maybe that gave me a couple of extra tenths!
“But no, it’s always good fun around here and when the car’s handling as well as it is today, it’s a pleasure.”
Piastri wary of Verstappen’s straight-line speed
While Piastri starts the sprint race on pole position, he will need to be wary of Verstappen behind him.
Verstappen was consistently 0.2s quicker than the two McLarens in the first sector, which consists of one braking zone.
With a long run down to Les Combes on the first lap, Piastri may lose the lead to Verstappen due to Red Bull’s straight-line speed advantage.
“I need to go and look. The Red Bulls were very quick in a straight line in practice,” Piastri explained.
“I don’t know if that was the same in Sprint Qualifying, but that makes life difficult and Spa is probably the worst track to have pole position at.
“So let’s see and I’ll go and have a look. But I think the pace in the car is really strong and I’ve felt good today, so hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow.”
