Oscar Piastri says Miami pace coming together in "bits and pieces"
Oscar Piastri is hopeful the upgraded McLaren MCL60 will continue to deliver as he makes his Miami debut.
Piastri was 12th-fastest in Free Practice 1 and 16th in Free Practice 2, with teammate Lando Norris sixth-fastest in the second of the two Friday practice sessions.
“A useful first day of racing in Miami,” said Piastri.
“We learnt a lot on what was quite a tricky track surface and temperature for FP1.”
The circuit has been resurfaced for the second grand prix to be held at the Miami International Autodrome, with drivers commenting on the slippery but fast asphalt.
“I think FP1 was incredibly slippery, just new track surface, really hot as well, so it was tricky out there.”
“It seemed to be really dirty off-line, so it’s really tricky. If you miss the apex by a little bit, it costs a lot. It’s a bit different to normal.”
Oscar Piastri on track in Miami on Friday. (Pirelli)
Despite falling further down the time sheet in the second practice session, Piastri said he gained a lot more from the session.
“Sector one was where I was losing quite a bit of time, the rest of the lap seems to be okay. Even on my second lap I was improving quite a lot, and then made a bit of a mistake.”
“So, it’s there, in bits and pieces.”
Piastri is confident that the upgraded McLaren MCL60 can prove to be more competitive against the rest of the grid.
“It’s more of a normal weekend with the three practice sessions and no sprint, so we’ll get some good data on that and see how it works. Obviously in Baku it was pretty handy, and hopefully it works just as well, if not better, here.”
The Australian says that based on Friday’s running, McLaren is in the mix with the mid-field teams.
“It think we can try and get into Q3 again.”
“It’s really close at the moment. We could be anywhere from just scraping into Q3, to going out in Q1. That’s been the theme of the year so far.”
“It’s super close, we’ll see where we are tomorrow.”
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