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Piastri was three tenths of a second ahead of McLaren teammate and reigning world champion Lando Norris, and while the Australian was fastest halfway through Q2, it was Mercedes who came out on top to continue their dominant start to the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
It is the first time, however, that Piastri will start on the second row for qualifying this season. <\/p>\n
While a promising turnaround for Piastri, the McLaren driver admitted after qualifying that his team still doesn\u2019t have the pace to compete with Mercedes.<\/p>\n
\u201cQualifying has been OK this year. Nice to get into the top three,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis weekend we have looked good and we have executed well. We clearly don\u2019t have the pace or the grip to match Mercedes but we are getting closer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen\u2019s tough start to the weekend took another turn after he was eliminated in Q2, with the Red Bull driver declaring his car was \u201ccompletely undriveable\u201d.<\/p>\n
It was the second time in three races that Verstappen had failed to make it to Q3, with the four-time world champion initially looking like he was safe after Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg were unable to knock him down from P10.<\/p>\n
But then in unexpected twist, Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad completed a stellar final sector to knock Verstappen out.<\/p>\n
Verstappen had complained about his car being \u201chorrendous\u201d in the final practice session and again ran into issues in qualifying.<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri tops Japan practice 2 | 00:50<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s something wrong with the car mate. It\u2019s completely undriveable suddenly in this qualifying,\u201d Verstappen said over team radio.<\/p>\n
Expanding on those comments to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying 11th, Verstappen said there were \u201cproblems\u201d with the car that he could not explain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car never turns mid corner, but at the same time this weekend, it\u2019s just oversteering a lot on entry. It\u2019s really difficult, unpredictable,\u201d Verstappen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought we\u2019d fixed it a little bit in FP3, I mean there was still a lot of understeer in the car, but now in qualifying for me it was again undriveable, so that\u2019s something that we need to look at.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, I\u2019m driving with a different aero package this weekend, but it seems like that\u2019s not working, so that\u2019s not also very good.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have problems that I cannot explain in detail here, that we are know there, sometimes a bit worse than other times, and I think in qualifying it just came back to a point where it became undriveable.\u201d<\/p>\n
QUALIFYING TOP 10 <\/p>\n
1. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:29.048<\/p>\n
2. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.255<\/p>\n
3. Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.403<\/p>\n
4. Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.541<\/p>\n
5. George Russell Mercedes +0.638<\/p>\n
6. Lando Norris McLaren +0.747<\/p>\n
7. Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.826<\/p>\n
8. Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +0.942<\/p>\n
9. Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing +1.056<\/p>\n
10. Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1.061<\/p>\n
LIVE BLOG<\/p>\n