- He finished second fastest in free practice in Italy.
- It comes after a major upgrade to your vehicle.
- Is the Australian ready for a great race in Emilia Romagna?
Oscar Piastri set the second fastest time in free practice for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, impressing after his McLaren received the full upgrade package.
This left the Australian predicting more big things for his British-based team in Sunday’s race after teammate Lando Norris’ triumph at the Miami Grand Prix last time out.
On that occasion a fortnight ago, Britain’s Norris took full advantage of the full complement of upgrades to win his first F1 race, while Piastri’s car only had a select number of new components.
In terms of parity, Piastri enjoyed the best day over two practice sessions this time around, as Norris finished eighth and 12th across the two sessions compared to the Australian’s ninth and second place finishes.
That left Piastri, who looked set to fight for a podium spot in Miami before colliding with Carlos Sainz, encouraged that he too could be in the mix this weekend.
Australian Oscar Piastri smiles after setting the second fastest time in training in Italy
Piastri has made a comprehensive set of improvements to his McLaren to boost his podium chances.
The Australian is optimistic about his chances at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after training
After finishing second to Charles Leclerc in Friday’s second session, Melburnian Piastri, having clocked a lap of 1 minute 16.098 seconds to the Ferrari driver’s 1:15.906, told reporters: “I think, honestly, “It’s been an encouraging day for us.”
‘The pace has been good, both in the qualifying races and in the race, so I feel very happy. I felt pretty comfortable with the car from the moment we hit the track.
“Ferrari has seemed fast, Mercedes has also been fast in the points, but I think we are definitely in the fight.” We’ll try to find a bit more tomorrow, but where we are today is not unreal.’
Championship leader Max Verstappen had another difficult day and finished seventh on the timesheets.
Piastri noted: ‘It’s very tight out there. “Red Bull has been a bit up and down, which is a bit unusual for them.”
Like the Australian, Verstappen, winner of four of the six races this season, also had new parts on his Red Bull but went off the track in both sessions and finished fifth in the morning and seventh in the afternoon.
‘A difficult day. It’s just difficult to get a good balance and I don’t feel really comfortable in the car, moving around a lot,” said the Dutchman.