Oscar Piastri admitted he was “a bit scared” after his first lap in SQ2 was deleted for monitor limits, leaving him weak heading into the ultimate minutes of the session.
Piastri’s first effort within the second a part of dash qualifying was deleted after he lower the kerb an excessive amount of on the exit of Raidillon.
The Australian was in a position to put a time on the board, however by that time, his tyres had been previous their greatest.
Piastri dropped to tenth within the order, narrowly making it into the pole place shootout for the dash race at Spa-Francorchamps.
Piastri saved his greatest till the tip, storming to pole by almost 0.5s forward of Max Verstappen.
Extra impressively, nonetheless, Piastri was 0.6s forward of teammate and essential title rival, Lando Norris.
Reflecting on dash qualifying, Piastri mentioned after the session: “It was a great lap. A little bit scared in SQ2 with the lap deletion, however no, the automobile’s been mega all day, and I really feel like I’ve been in a position to put in loads of good laps.
“So, because of the crew, the automobile’s been nice, and it is a monitor I really like. It’s my favorite one of many 12 months and, I don’t know, perhaps that gave me a few additional tenths!
“However no, it’s at all times good enjoyable round right here and when the automobile’s dealing with in addition to it’s as we speak, it’s a pleasure.”
Piastri cautious of Verstappen’s straight-line velocity
Whereas Piastri begins the dash race on pole place, he’ll must be cautious of Verstappen behind him.
Verstappen was persistently 0.2s faster than the 2 McLarens within the first sector, which consists of 1 braking zone.
With a future all the way down to Les Combes on the primary lap, Piastri could lose the result in Verstappen attributable to Crimson Bull’s straight-line velocity benefit.
“I must go and look. The Crimson Bulls had been very fast in a straight line in follow,” Piastri defined.
“I don’t know if that was the identical in Dash Qualifying, however that makes life tough and Spa might be the worst monitor to have pole place at.
“So let’s see and I’ll go and take a look. However I feel the tempo within the automobile is admittedly robust and I’ve felt good as we speak, so hopefully we are able to have a great day tomorrow.”
