Aussie Oscar Piastri will start the Monaco Grand Prix from the front row after a blistering performance in qualifying, finishing just behind hometown hero Charles Leclerc.
Max Verstappen‘s record number of poles was brought to a halt by Charles Leclerc’s stunning lap on his home streets of Monaco.
Piastri’s final lap left him just behind the Ferrari driver with Carlos Sainz third best, ahead of Lando Norris in the other McLaren.
Piastri believes he could have grabbed pole if it hadn’t been for some mistakes on the last lap.
Oscar Piastri (pictured) will begin the Monaco Grand Prix from the front row after a scoring performance in qualifying
Charles Leclerc took pole position, ahead of Piastri and Carlos Sainz in third
‘I think if you took the second half of my first lap in Q3 and the first half of the second one, it would have been enough,’ Piastri said.
‘A couple of mistakes at the end, but credit to Charles because he’s been incredibly quick all weekend. At certain points I don’t think anyone thought we were going to get close to him.
‘[It’s] nice to be starting on the front row. I feel like it’s been a good weekend in terms of building momentum, and what better colours to do it in than these.’
Piastri has a running joke with Leclerc about finding family roots in Monaco, with Leclerc offering to adopt the 23-year-old if he can’t find any.
The Aussie took to X after the session to continue the banter, writing: ‘Good day for the Leclerc family.’
He later shared a photo of himself and Leclerc, writing: ‘Two locals on the front row. Who’d have thought?’.
Leclerc was also getting in on the gag, and when questioned about racing the young Australian answered: ‘I mean, we are family.’
‘Starting on the front row, both of us, we’ll have a meeting with my Mum tonight, and hopefully she’ll calm us down.’
Good day for the Leclerc family
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) May 25, 2024
It appears there’s a vacancy for a son in my family, @yukitsunoda07 ? pic.twitter.com/GavAp1HDu5
— Nicole Piastri (@NicolePiastri) May 24, 2024
Piastri’s mum has found the whole thing funny, announcing on X that she is prepared to give up her son.
‘It appears there’s a vacancy for a son in my family, @yukitsunoda07?’ she wrote on X.
Piastri knows he has a big task ahead of him to get past Leclerc on the notoriously narrow Monaco track.
‘A good start always helps, and if you can get into the lead you can control it very easily around here, so that’s probably the first goal,’ he said.
‘If not then with strategy.
‘As optimistic as I want to be, overtaking around here is not easy. We’ll try our best but starting from a good spot, [there is the] chance for a good day tomorrow.’
