Oscar Piastri has conceded that his poor qualifying result at the Las Vegas Grand Prix has ‘complicated’ his bid for a maiden Formula 1 world championship.
The McLaren driver will start the race in fifth while team-mate and title rival Lando Norris is on pole, having gone quickest by three tenths in the wet.
Piastri simply got caught out by a late yellow flag caused by Charles Leclerc’s excursion at Turn 12, which forced the Australian to back off at the end of his final lap in Q3 and not improve.
It was the last thing Piastri needed, given he is 24 points behind championship leader Norris with only three rounds remaining.
When asked if it complicates his title bid, Piastri replied: “Yes, yes it does. But it's Las Vegas after all, so a lot could happen.
“We've seen pretty entertaining races here the last couple of years, a lot of action, so hopefully I can get myself involved on the right side of that action and make up some ground tomorrow.”
It was a very tricky session for all as cars started qualifying on the wet tyres, before eventually switching to the intermediates in Q3.
Various shocks therefore occurred, such as Lewis Hamilton and Andrea Kimi Antonelli being eliminated from Q1, while Alex Albon hit the Turn 16 wall in the same part of qualifying.
Piastri was almost caught up in a collision himself, as Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar backed off trying to avoid the McLaren when it suddenly slowed under yellow flags. It caused the Frenchman to slide and forced Piastri into the Turn 12 escape road to avoid a collision.
When asked if it was the hardest conditions he has faced in his F1 career so far, Piastri said: “Wheel spinning in fifth or even sixth gear is not something I'm very used to, so it's very tricky out there and especially off the line, that was the difficulty with the inters.
“As soon as you put one tread block into the water it was literally like being on ice and that's when me and Isack, I had to avoid Isack at the end, we weren't even going fast but he just hit the water and spun basically.
“So, very, very low grip. The last corner as well, that's a proper corner with no margin of error, so very tricky. Obviously there's not much they can do about it being a street circuit, but I would say the most challenging conditions I've had.”
The track should be dry for the race given the weather forecast, giving Piastri confidence he can climb up the order after being impressed by his outright pace - which was echoed by McLaren boss Andrea Stella who thinks he could have been top three without the yellow flag.
“I think yes,” said Piastri, when asked if he’s confident of a podium. “It's difficult to know exactly where anyone sits because of the lack of proper race running this weekend, but I think the car's been pretty quick in all conditions.
“It's quick in the rain then, it's quick in the dry yesterday. Yesterday the same thing, didn't get many opportunities to use it, so I think we've got good pace and hopefully we can use that to go forwards tomorrow.”
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