Oscar Piastri reacts to a disastrous qualifying session for the F1 Las Vegas GP

McLaren star Oscar Piastri qualified P5 at the 2025 Las Vegas GP, whereas his teammate and title rival Lando Norris took the pole position. The Australian driver reacted to his poor qualifying performance in Q3, suggesting there was more on the table for him.

Oscar Piastri came into the Las Vegas GP 24 points behind his teammate in the championship battle. Just a couple of races ago, Piastri led the championship battle, but following Norris' back-to-back wins in Mexico City GP and Brazilian GP, the Australian has fallen to P2 in the F1 standings.

With three races left in the season, going into the Las Vegas GP, Piastri needed to start reeling the gap down to his teammate. However, it is the Briton who will start the race in pole position, whereas the Australian driver will only start in P5.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were provisionally P1 and P2 during the Las Vegas GP Q3 session before others improved on a track which was still damp. As a result, the Briton was able to improve on his final lap by three tenths despite making a mistake in the third sector.

Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, had yellow flags on his final Q3 run and, as a result, was not able to improve and will only start the race in P5. Reacting to the disastrous qualifying in Sin City, and whether the yellow flags hampered the qualifying, the McLaren driver said,

“Yep. I don't know. There was a few things as well at the start of the lap that didn't go great from an operational point of view. I had to mess around with a few things that didn't quite go how I wanted. I don't know how much time there was in there ultimately and there was still 3 or 4 corners left to go so difficult to say. What I can say is, there's more out there that we didn't get to use.”

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Oscar Piastri is hopeful of moving forward at the Las Vegas GP after the poor qualifying

Although Oscar Piastri made some errors during his final Q3 lap before the lap was ruined by a yellow flag, the Australian driver is hopeful of challenging the drivers in front of him during the race. The McLaren is currently the best car in the performance index, and the tricky track conditions might also play into Piastri's hand.

“Yeah I definitely think so. I think we've got a good car underneath us, it seems to be working well in all kinds of conditions. I think we can have a strong race tomorrow and hopefully make up some spots,” said Piastri when asked if he could challenge in the race

The Las Vegas street circuit has multiple long straights, including the Las Vegas strip, providing a good opportunity for overtakes.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi