Oscar Piastri reckons he squeezed just about everything he could from his McLaren in Friday’s Sprint qualifying at Singapore’s Marina Bay, where a late switch to the soft tyres helped him secure fourth on the grid and edge out teammate Lando Norris.
The Australian emerged from a challenging session with a second-row starting position behind Max Verstappen, George Russell and Charles Leclerc, reversing the order from the afternoon’s sole practice session, when Norris finished ahead in third and Piastri had to settle for fifth.
With precious little running available on a Sprint weekend, Piastri’s result offered encouragement, even if the handling of his MCL40 remained far from straightforward.
His second successive fourth place in Sprint qualifying, and third of the 2026 season, suggested he had managed to extract a respectable return from a car that was not always willing to play ball.
“I think that was more or less what we could have done,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1.
“It’s very tricky on a sprint weekend to get all the lap time out of the car here, but I felt like on the soft, things came alive a lot more.
“I was struggling on the medium, and then once I put the soft on, I felt pretty happy. So, yeah, not a bad effort.”
Soft tyres bring McLaren to life
Piastri’s qualifying performance was all the more satisfying given the difficulties he had encountered earlier in the day.
The Australian struggled to find a comfortable rhythm through the opening sequence of Turns 2 and 3, where Marina Bay’s unforgiving street layout continued to expose the limitations of his car’s handling.
The extra grip provided by the soft compound proved a welcome remedy, although it did not fundamentally change his assessment of the McLaren’s underlying characteristics.
“I was struggling with a few things in the car through there. It was a little bit better now, but I think just the general feeling of the car is not any different to what it normally is,” he explained.
“You’ve got to really wring its neck to be quick. Once we added a bit more grip in with the soft, it was a bit better.”
In the end, Piastri found enough improvement to secure a place among the front four, but his comments suggested there was no sudden transformation in the car’s behaviour to explain the result.
Instead, the nine-time Grand Prix winner appeared to have made the most of the available package when it mattered, putting together a session that left him ahead of his championship-winning teammate and within striking distance of the front row.
Norris takes responsibility as McLaren tackles issues
Norris, meanwhile, had to settle for fifth after failing to reproduce the pace that had put him ahead of Piastri in practice.
The Briton was left frustrated by the outcome, but was unwilling to blame the evolving track conditions for the reversal.
“I don’t think that’s the reason. I just don’t think I put together a very good lap. That was all. No excuse,” he told Sky Sports F1.
His candid assessment left little room for alternative explanations: on a circuit where every fraction of a second counts, he simply did not deliver the lap he needed.
McLaren also had other business to attend to after working on a fuel injection issue, adding another task to an already demanding opening day.
Singapore Grand Prix - Sprint qualifying resultsWhile the team continued investigating a problem that impacted in Malaysia, the Briton offered a cautiously encouraging account of the progress made so far, suggesting the overall picture was becoming more positive.
“I think so. From what I’ve seen so far. I don’t know everything just yet. The guys are still looking into it. And it’s been a busy day. But no, a lot of things seem good. We seem closer as a team,” he said.
That final note of optimism will offer McLaren some reassurance heading into Saturday, although the competitive order remains tight and the Sprint itself promises another test of the team’s progress.
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