Oscar Piastri qualified third for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, splitting Charles Leclerc and pole sitter George Russell after McLaren spent Friday running cable ties on his car to fight brake induced vibrations.
Oscar Piastri Secures Third Grid Slot in Baku
Piastri’s best lap left him just behind Leclerc’s Ferrari, with only Russell’s Mercedes further up the order. Team mate Lando Norris qualified fifth, so McLaren will start Sunday’s race with two cars inside the top five at the Baku City Circuit.
The result is a sharp turnaround. Piastri had not finished higher than sixth in any of the three practice sessions held over the weekend, and there was little sign beforehand that a front row fight was on the cards.
McLaren overcome Friday Cable Tie Fix in Baku Qualifying
McLaren’s practice troubles traced back to a brake issue that sent vibrations through Piastri’s car. The team ran cable ties on it through Friday’s sessions as a stopgap fix. Speaking after qualifying, Piastri did not hide how tricky the build up had been.
“It’s been not an easy weekend, for sure, from a few areas,” Piastri said. “You know, we’ve not been particularly quick. We were also running cable ties on our car through Friday, which is never a great sign. So it’s been a little bit of a tricky one for us.”
Whatever the fix, it worked. Piastri gave his fullest account of the turnaround in a post-qualifying interview, pointing to a pattern that has followed McLaren for much of the season.
“In qualifying we found a bit of pace. So, yeah, it’s not the first time that’s happened to us this year. We seem like we’re a bit on the back foot through practice, we come out in qualifying and, yeah, we just find that bit extra.”
Piastri Weighs Up Race Pace Against Front Runners
Q3 briefly promised more than third place. Piastri and Norris topped the times after the opening runs, before Russell pulled clear on his final attempt.
“I was pretty surprised to see us 1-2 after the first lap of Q3, but unfortunately, we had no hope against George.”
Asked whether McLaren could challenge Russell for the win on Sunday, Oscar Piastri leaned on humour rather than confidence.
“If he’s got a tow bar that I can hook onto the back of, maybe,” he smiled. “But yeah, we’ll see what we can do.”
His more serious assessment focused on the pack behind Mercedes rather than the Silver Arrows themselves, a theme that has run through Piastri’s recent qualifying struggles in Madrid as well.
“The Mercedes look incredibly quick here,” he said, “but everyone else looks like they’re in a similar-ish kind of pack. And our race pace looked pretty good yesterday, to be honest. So I think we can hang on and battle in the pack behind George, and see what lap Kimi starts coming through as well.”
Azerbaijan Grand Prix Schedule and Race Day Outlook
Sunday’s grid is headed by Russell, with Leclerc second and Piastri third. Norris starts fifth, meaning both McLarens line up inside the top five for the race around Baku’s street circuit. It is a much stronger position than Friday’s cable tie fix suggested was possible, and it follows on from Lando Norris’ radio comments about the team’s search for pace this weekend.
Piastri’s own focus stays on managing the gap to Mercedes rather than closing it outright, a stance consistent with McLaren’s overall driver dynamic this season. For now, third on the grid gives him a genuine platform to fight in the pack once lights out.
