Oscar Piastri blames “mistakes on both laps” for poor…

McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri says two driving errors left him on the back foot in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix as he settled for fourth on the grid - admitting he "didn't do a good enough job".

Piastri and team-mate Lando Norris both looked a sensible bet for pole at the Miami International Autodrome, but neither managed to execute perfect laps to deny four-time world champion Max Verstappen a third pole of the 2025 season.

While Norris felt the final corner was where he lost out the most on both of his Q3 flyers, Piastri rued mistakes at the start of the lap that meant he wasn't able to improve on his best lap from Q2 as one would expect.

"It was just not the level of execution I needed to have in Q3. It's never a great qualifying session when your best lap is the first lap of Q2," he said.

"There was quite a bit left on the table, just a few mistakes on both laps in Q3, which is a shame. On both laps of Q3 I struggled at Turn 1. I think I lost pretty much two tenths. On my first lap I gained back a bit through the rest of sector one and then fell away in the middle.

"On the last one, I eventually recovered some of it at the end, but it wasn't enough. It was nothing to do with preparation. It was just execution of the driving, unfortunately. I'm not concerned about the pace I had today. It was just that I didn't use it when I really needed it. I think after the lap in Q2 I just never quite got back into the same rhythm."

Oscar Piastri, McLaren (Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images)

Norris has already acknowledged he has been finding it tough to get the maximum out of the rapid 2025 McLaren at the very edge of the envelope, and Piastri is also admitting the MCL39 is hard to tame on Saturdays.

"There are definitely still some things with our car that we want to try and address and driving it right on the limit is one of them," the world championship leader explained.

"I think this weekend it has had enough pace to be on pole, it's just that I've not done as good a job as I should have, unfortunately.

"The gap's always been close and potentially our advantage has been a little bit more on Sundays, but I think our picture of where we stand has always been that if we make mistakes we're going to be beaten and that's been true for me."

Piastri will line up fourth behind polesitter Verstappen and Norris on Sunday, and alongside the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

He acknowledged moving up won't be that straightforward in what is expected to be a one-stop race.

"I think if it's hot that might help us out a little bit, but qualifying is still going to make a massive difference for tomorrow so it's not going to be easy to make progress, but I'm confident in the car that we've got," the Australian concluded.

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