Piastri ‘stoked’ with Zandvoort pole as he ‘peaks at the right time’ to edge out Norris

Oscar Piastri expressed his satisfaction after delivering when it mattered during Qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix – the Australian pipping McLaren team mate and title rival Lando Norris to pole position.

Piastri trailed Norris during all three practice sessions around the tight, twisty Zandvoort track, but turned the tables at the end of Saturday’s grid-deciding session to snatch the top spot by 12 thousandths of a second.

Offering up his instant reaction when he jumped out of the car in Parc Ferme, Piastri said: “That was the definition of peaking at the right time!

“I think the whole weekend I’ve felt pretty good, but there’s just been a couple corners that I’ve not been able to go any faster, and I didn’t really go any faster in those corners, but I found some more [pace] elsewhere.

“I’m super happy to come away with the result. Obviously [we have] still got all the points [to score] tomorrow, but it was looking like a little bit of a tricky weekend so far, so to come away with that… I’m pretty stoked.”

Pushed on how difficult it was to overcome the early-weekend deficit to Norris, he added: “You just keep chipping away, and that’s one of the nice things about having so much practice, is you’ve got time to work on it.

“Like I said, I think I just improved the parts [around the track] where I was already not bad and made up the difference that way. Still, some things to try and improve and work on, but overall I’m very happy.

“We’re both trying to beat each other every weekend. There’s a few variables in there that you can mix up, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Norris, meanwhile, was left to ponder what might have been – and the aforementioned fine margins – after charging to pole and the race win in the Netherlands last season.

Asked if he was frustrated by the result, the Briton said: “Yes and no. I was close, it’s been close all weekend, so it could easily go one way or the other.

“I guess I’m a little bit disappointed I’m not on pole, but it’s close with still some decent laps. So, not the end of the world either.

“With the wind like this, a lot of it is down to luck as well, even with all the luck I’ve been having. It’s tough. I had a good lap, like Q3 run one, but there’s a small headwind down the straight and I lost like one-hundredth, so you could easily say it’s there.

“But I’m in a good position. We’re in a good fight. Oscar has been driving well all weekend, we’ve been driving well all season, so we’ll have some fun tomorrow.”

Piastri and Norris will head into Sunday’s Grand Prix separated by just nine points in the Drivers’ Championship standings – the former holding that slender advantage.