Oscar Piastri has explained that the wind played a decisive role in preventing him from securing pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver labelled it a “pathetic” thing to blame the disappointing result on, whilst detailing how a significant change in direction left him feeling “pretty terrible” in his MCL39.
Charles Leclerc stole pole away from the Australian and team-mate Lando Norris, who will line up for the race at the Hungaroring in third.
“The wind changed a lot,” the eight-time grand prix winner stated after the session. “It always sounds so pathetic blaming things on the wind, but the wind basically did a 180 from Q2 to Q3 and yeah, just meant a lot of the corners felt completely different.
“And my first lap in Q3 felt pretty terrible because I wasn’t used to it. Then I thought the second lap was a lot better, but it was even slower.
“So just difficult to judge in those conditions, and maybe not the best execution, but I was a bit surprised that we couldn’t go quicker than that. [But] second is still a decent spot to start.”
Piastri acknowledged that the pace from the Ferrari caught him off-guard, admitting he did not expect to start behind one of the SF-25s, even if the Monegasque driver was closer than expected in FP3.
“Charles has been quick all weekend, and even this morning, he was closer than we expected,” the 24-year-old said.
“Things just changed a little bit, and I guess he did a very good job. Well done to him. I wasn’t expecting to be second to a Ferrari this weekend, but he’s done a good job.
“So it’s gonna be a fun race tomorrow with a bit more involved.”