The slips and spills of the Canadian GP qualifying made for an exciting watch, except for the drivers. In fact, among the rest, the McLaren men came out a tad disappointed from the rain-marred Q3. We were all aware the conditions were favorable for the MCL60. However, both McLaren men failed to capitalize on the conditions because of a self-destructive error. Lando Norris already communicated his disappointment for the same. Now, we have the dejected account of Oscar Piastri as well, who still remains hopeful.

The Australian’s slide and contact with the barriers in the Q3 session brought out the red flag which locked the results. This scenario saw Piastri qualify in 9th but will start the race in 8th. The unfavorable result is a source of disappointment in the entire McLaren camp. This is exactly what echoed through Piastri’s comments post qualifying in Montreal.

According to McLaren’s official website, Oscar said, “P9 and not the way I wanted to end qualifying. I don’t know how much more there would have been there, in terms of performance but you never want to end qualifying that way and give the team more work. I certainly appreciate the work they’ll put in overnight to get us ready for tomorrow. Otherwise, I think we had a strong qualifying overall, making good decisions at the right time. It’s just a shame it ended like that,”

However, he is not losing hope and added, “I’m feeling confident for tomorrow and hopefully, we can stay in the points.”

Read More: The Scintillating Rise of Oscar Piastri that Made F1 Teams Fight For Him

His first major crash in the sport might’ve snatched his chance at a massive result for the team and him personally. However, he is staying hopeful. In fact, despite the ongoing struggles at McLaren, the Australian is enjoying his time with the team.

Oscar Piastri has found a new best friend in the sport

Formula 1 as a sport pits every diver against each other. However, in order to beat the completion, a driver needs the help of one person who is always in his ear during the race making the calls for them. A person whose informed decisions and suggestions can make or break the race for the driver. They are obviously the track-side engineers for a driver. This is exactly who has become Piastri’s biggest ally in the team.

Speaking about his engineer Tom Stallard, Piastri said, “We’ve been working together really well. He’s got a lot of experience in F1. A lot of experience in elite level sport as well. With more race weekends, we’re getting to know each other’s style better and better. We did a lot of work before the season to make sure we’re speaking the same language and working on the same wavelength.” 

There have been several engineers who have become famous for their driver relationships. Even McLaren boss Andrea Stella has been the engineer world champions like Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, & Michael Schumacher. So, Piastri won’t mind building another such bond with Stallard in the upcoming future.

Now it remains to be seen if this relationship can result translate into results on the track. However, for now, the focus remains on extracting the best results from the struggling MCL60.

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