Piastri admits P5 ‘tough to take’ in Las Vegas Qualifying as he rues ‘things we couldn’t control’

Oscar Piastri conceded that the outcome of his Qualifying at the Las Vegas Grand Prix was “a tough one to take”, with the Australian ending up in P5 despite earlier feeling that a “good result” was on the cards.

Amid mixed conditions throughout the session, Piastri displayed good pace but had his final run in Q3 disrupted by a yellow flag, leaving the McLaren driver on the third row of the grid – four positions behind team mate and title rival Lando Norris.

Reflecting on what had gone wrong during those closing moments, the 24-year-old explained: “I got a yellow flag and that was pretty much the end of it. We were quick, there’s no doubt about that – just one way or another, things seem to not be going the way I want at the moment.

“At least I can say that the pace was good out there – it felt pretty good in Q3, [but there were] things that we couldn’t control.”

Piastri has faced a tough run across recent races, with the McLaren racer having finished off the podium during the last five rounds.

Pushed on how he feels about some factors being beyond his control, Piastri responded: “It’s certainly not been the case for… in that session, yes, things didn’t go my way, but there’s been plenty of things that could have gone my way previously, so I don’t feel like it’s a kind of recurring theme, so to speak.

“A tough one to take when it looked like we were on for a good result. I can’t do much about it unfortunately.”

Piastri will be looking to make ground on race day, which he enters with a 24-point deficit to championship leader Norris.