Oscar Piastri is facing a difficult task at his home Grand Prix, after the Australian was eliminated in Q1 at the Albert Park Circuit.
With fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo no longer being on the grid, all eyes have turned to Piastri to put on a show for the Australian fans at the Australian Grand Prix.
His first home GP certainly hasn’t gone well so far, with Piastri having been eliminated in Q1 by just 0.046s, leaving the home crowd in agony.
As a result, the McLaren driver will be starting P16 on Sunday, three-places behind Lando Norris.
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The Woking-based team have struggled again so far this weekend, with Piastri and Norris visibly struggling for pace.
Coming into qualifying, Piastri was hoping to make a second consecutive Q3 appearance, after qualifying right behind Lewis Hamilton at the recent Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
He’s certainly up against it on Sunday, though, with the Aussie knowing that he has a mountain to climb should he want to claim his first top 10 finish of his F1 career.
Speaking after his elimination, Piastri thanked the great crowd but admitted that he was “a little bit safe” during Q1.
“Firstly, nice to have the home crowd, I got a nice (applause) even with the results, so thank you everyone,” Piastri told Channel 10.
“But obviously is not my session I was looking for, maybe a little bit safe in places, it just makes a difference in a session like that.”
Piastri went on to discuss some of the changes that McLaren made in a bid to actually improve his feeling in the MCL60; however, it clearly had the opposite effect.
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A red flag at the start of the session for Sergio Perez certainly didn’t help Piastri’s chances of getting into Q2, but on the whole the Aussie recognises that perhaps his elimination was due to “a bit of inexperience”.
“We adjusted the front wing a little bit and maybe wasn’t the best for the track conditions improving, maybe a bit of inexperience on my side. Small tweak, it wouldn’t have cost us too much I think,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1.
“All weekend it’s been difficult to get the first lap going with the tyres because it’s so cold. Red flag was awkwardly timed. What we did was fine, but not quite good enough.”