Oscar Piastri admitted he was “slightly scared” after his first lap in SQ2 was deleted for observe limits, leaving him susceptible heading into the ultimate minutes of the session.
Piastri’s first effort within the second a part of dash qualifying was deleted after he reduce 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 have 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 top, storming to pole by almost 0.5s forward of Max Verstappen.
Extra impressively, nonetheless, Piastri was 0.6s forward of teammate and most important title rival, Lando Norris.
Reflecting on dash qualifying, Piastri mentioned after the session: “It was a superb lap. Just a little scared in SQ2 with the lap deletion, however no, the automotive’s been mega all day, and I really feel like I’ve been in a position to put in a whole lot of good laps.
“So, because of the group, the automotive’s been nice, and this can be a observe I like. It’s my favorite one of many 12 months and, I don’t know, possibly that gave me a few further tenths!
“However no, it’s all the time good enjoyable round right here and when the automotive’s dealing with in addition to it’s at this time, it’s a pleasure.”
Piastri cautious of Verstappen’s straight-line velocity
Whereas Piastri begins the dash race on pole place, he’ll have to be cautious of Verstappen behind him.
Verstappen was constantly 0.2s faster than the 2 McLarens within the first sector, which consists of 1 braking zone.
With a future right down to Les Combes on the primary lap, Piastri could lose the result in Verstappen attributable to Pink Bull’s straight-line velocity benefit.
“I must go and look. The Pink Bulls have been very fast in a straight line in observe,” Piastri defined.
“I don’t know if that was the identical in Dash Qualifying, however that makes life troublesome and Spa might be the worst observe to have pole place at.
“So let’s see and I’ll go and take a look. However I feel the tempo within the automotive is admittedly sturdy and I’ve felt good at this time, so hopefully we are able to have a superb day tomorrow.”
