Oscar Piastri declared himself delighted to 'peak at the right time' after snatching pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix in a tense qualifying battle with McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.
The Australian, who leads Norris by nine points in the world championship standings, found his rhythm when it mattered most at Zandvoort, edging his team-mate by a razor-thin 0.012 seconds.
Both drivers had set their best laps on their first attempts in Q3, and although Norris briefly went quicker by 0.004 seconds on his final run, he was unable to improve overall.
Reflecting on his lap, Piastri admitted it was far from perfect but came together when needed.
OSCAR PIASTRI TAKES POLE AT ZANDVOORT!!! 🤩#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/ONYDhLlXlZ
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“That’s the definition of peaking at the right time,” he said.
“There have just been a couple of corners where I have not been able to go faster. I still didn’t do that, but I found some time in other places.”
For Norris, it was another case of being agonisingly close.
“It’s close. It’s been close the whole weekend so easily could go one way or the other,” he said.
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“A little bit disappointing to not be on pole, but not the end of the world either.”
Behind the McLaren duo, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had to settle for third, three tenths off pole, while rookie Isack Hadjar produced the performance of the day to qualify fourth for Racing Bulls.
The Frenchman, just 20 years old, overcame a disrupted Friday practice with engine issues to outpace both Mercedes and Ferraris.
“I feel great,” Hadjar said afterwards.
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Oscar Piastri performed well on Saturday as he took pole for the Dutch Grand Prix
|REUTERS
“Amazing qualifying. Honestly, yesterday was a complete disaster for me, so really unexpected.
"This morning I had a really good feeling but we knew it would be very hard to reach Q3 and actually both of us did.
"He [Liam Lawson] was really pushing me hard and I put it all on the line on that final lap. It was a great lap, so I’m happy.”
George Russell slotted into fifth for Mercedes, just ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
The pair were separated by just 0.05 seconds.
Hamilton, who had endured a miserable qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break, was upbeat despite missing out on the top five.
“This weekend we have definitely seen progress and that was the goal,” said the seven-time champion.
“Better approach overall. Just everything has been more enjoyable. I got the most out of the car in pretty much every session.
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Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen make up the top three for the Dutch Grand Prix
|REUTERS
"That last lap, I was already 0.15secs down when I came out of Turn One. I need to look into why.
"P5 would have been potentially possible but with the wind it is quite tricky for all of us.”
Rounding out the top 10 were Liam Lawson in eighth, Carlos Sainz in ninth for Williams, and Fernando Alonso in tenth for Aston Martin.