Oscar Piastri Blames One Moment for Losing Pole Position to Lando Norris at Austrian GP

Oscar Piastri singles out the moment which caused him to lose the chance of fighting for pole position at the Austrian GP.

Oscar Piastri Blames One Moment for Losing Pole Position to Lando Norris at Austrian GP

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (via Getty)

McLaren has come to the Austrian GP weekend looking strong in terms of performance from the get-go. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris continued to top the practice sessions as they used all the knowledge gained over the weekend in Qualifying. Piastri narrowly missed out on the pole position against Norris as he trailed the leader by a gap of 0.583s. Now, the Australian singles out the moment that caused him to lose a chance at securing a front-row start.

The Q3 session of the Austrian GP was an eventful one as a late-session yellow flag ruined a lot of drivers’ shot at the final flying lap. Oscar Piastri was looking strong in performance since the beginning of the weekend. The Australian could have achieved the pole position if his flying lap hadn’t been interrupted by the yellow flag from Pierre Gasly‘s spinout.

Oscar Piastri blamed these circumstances for his failed shot at achieving a pole position. The Australian revealed that he couldn’t even start his second flying lap due to the late race double yellow flags. Piastri is still starting the race from P3 and would have a great shot at moving up the field as he aims to trump Charles Leclerc right ahead of him.

It was the fact that I was not able to start it (second flier) because of Gasly spinning in the last corner.

Oscar Piastri said in a post-session interview

Piastri further applauded Lando Norris and his pace throughout the weekend as he achieved the pole position. As such, the Australian accepted that even if he had lodged his second flying lap, it would have been hard to clinch the pole position. Regardless, the 24-year-old insisted that McLaren had the pace to start on the front row, which was already a big positive to begin with.

Lando has been quick all weekend so it would have been tough, but we had the pace to start on the front row.

Oscar Piastri added

Andrea Stella asserts McLaren’s speed was ‘always present’

McLaren has remained the team to beat since the beginning of the 2025 season as the rivals fail to overcome them in terms of pace. Team Principal Andrea Stella, shares his opinion on the team’s potential despite a woeful outing in Canada last week as Lando Norris suffered from a DNF.

Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Andrea Stella (via F1)
Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Andrea Stella (via F1)

Andrea Stella pointed out that even in the Canadian weekend, the speed was always present in the challenger. As such, McLaren only needed to polish the execution and put forth an error-free performance over the race weekend. Stella asserted that the little adjustments over the weekend helped boost their results signifacantly as both drivers start from P1 and P3.

Even in Canada, after reviewing the weekend with Lando and his engineers, we always said the speed was there. We needed to polish the execution. We made little adjustments here and there.

Andrea Stella told Sky Sports F1

The 2025 season has peaked in excitement and competition at the forefront amongst multiple teams and drivers. The Austrian GP is set to be even more exciting as the grid is set in a unique manner, with Max Verstappen starting all the way back in P7. Now, time will tell if Woking manages to hold onto their dominant pace and emerge victorious in front of Red Bull’s home crowd.

Read More: “Savor This Moment,” Lando Norris Remains Cautious After Clinching Pole Position at Austrian GP