Piastri blames F1 Miami GP sprint pole miss on last-corner lock-up

Oscar Piastri blamed a last-corner lock-up for his inability to beat Andrea Kimi Antonelli to the Miami Grand Prix sprint pole, having lost a scant 0.045s to the Formula 1 rookie.

Antonelli had set a 1m26.482s benchmark among the final runs of the session, leapfrogging Max Verstappen’s second attempt at a timed lap on the soft tyres in SQ3.

But the Italian youngster had an agonising wait before he could celebrate his first start from pole position in F1, as both Piastri and Lando Norris were due to set their own grid-deciding laps in the dying embers of the session.

Neither McLaren could make it, however; Piastri was just a shade off Antonelli’s time and had to be content with second, while Norris was another half-tenth behind his team-mate in third.

Piastri felt that his own effort “wasn’t the best lap ever” and noted his lock-up in the final braking zone at Turn 17, but nonetheless was moderately satisfied with a front-row start for Saturday’s short race.

“I had a lock-up into the last corner, which I think was probably where pole went away,” Piastri said. “P2 is still a good result, we can still fight from there in the sprint tomorrow.

“All in all, pretty happy. I think we’ve got a bit more pace to unlock, hopefully. I’m feeling positive still and I’ll be trying to make up a spot tomorrow in the sprint before we get stuck into where the big points are.”

Norris was slightly more upbeat after his own sprint qualifying effort and was simply happy to put together a competitive flying lap, having struggled for consistency in qualifying over the previous few rounds.

He reckoned that McLaren needed to find a little bit more performance, but said that the team was in the ballpark where it should be realistically challenging for a grand prix pole on Saturday afternoon.

“It felt good. I’m happy just to get a good lap in there. It was close, so not much more I could ask for,” Norris said.

“Today’s performance was, I think, in a good ballpark. Obviously, not good enough, but it shows how close it is, shows how quick the Mercedes are and both of us behind.

“A bit of a job to do for the sprint race tomorrow, but close enough that we can still try and aim for a pole tomorrow.”

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Did Piastri really lose sprint pole in the final corner?

In a word, yes. GPS data shows that Piastri and Antonelli were pretty much neck and neck through the lap, with a slender advantage conferred upon the McLaren driver in the opening part of the lap.

After the opening sector, Piastri was tracking at just over half a tenth ahead of Antonelli, having found more time through the sweepers between Turns 5 and 8.

But Antonelli clawed back a bit more time on the run to Turn 11, and then was a scant 0.03s up before the braking zone. However, the McLaren was a lot more adept in the low-speed following corners, so turned the arrears into a slightly (by comparison) more convincing advantage and was almost a tenth clear of the 18-year-old.

At the Turn 17 braking zone, Piastri went slightly deep and got onto the brakes a tiny bit later than Antonelli – a crucial moment, as this cost him the apex of the tight left-hander. The Mercedes driver was thus able to pick up the throttle sooner, offering the final edge he needed in his pursuit for a first F1 sprint pole.