Oscar Piastri admitted he was “somewhat 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 minimize 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 had been previous their finest.
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 finest till the top, storming to pole by practically 0.5s forward of Max Verstappen.
Extra impressively, nonetheless, Piastri was 0.6s forward of teammate and important title rival, Lando Norris.
Reflecting on dash qualifying, Piastri mentioned after the session: “It was lap. Just a little scared in SQ2 with the lap deletion, however no, the automobile’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 automobile’s been nice, and it is a observe I really like. It’s my favorite one of many yr and, I don’t know, possibly that gave me a few further tenths!
“However no, it’s at all times good enjoyable round right here and when the automobile’s dealing with in addition to it’s as we speak, it’s a pleasure.”
Piastri cautious of Verstappen’s straight-line pace
Whereas Piastri begins the dash race on pole place, he’ll must be cautious of Verstappen behind him.
Verstappen was persistently 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 resulting from Pink Bull’s straight-line pace benefit.
“I have to go and look. The Pink Bulls had been very fast in a straight line in apply,” Piastri defined.
“I don’t know if that was the identical in Dash Qualifying, however that makes life tough 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 automobile is absolutely sturdy and I’ve felt good as we speak, so hopefully we will have day tomorrow.”
