McLaren boss Andrea Stella believes Oscar Piastri trait of being a "build-up driver" was key to landing Dutch Grand Prix pole.
Throughout practice at Zandvoort, Piastri was about a tenth or so behind team-mate Lando Norris, but in Q3, Piastri bested Norris by 0.012s to snatch a crucial pole position.
Since F1 returned to Zandvoort in 2021, all four races have been won from pole, meaning Piastri is favourite to win the grand prix, and extend his points lead from nine over title rival and team-mate Norris.
Reflecting, team principal Stella felt Piastri's usual method of slowly building into the weekend before peaking at the ideal moment had won him the day.
"They were very, very close throughout qualifying, and the first attempts in Q3 were 12 milliseconds apart and on the second, they were four milliseconds apart," Stella told Sky Sports F1.
"Both drivers were driving at the limit of the car, and sometimes, it is just mini-subtleties that make the difference. Let's say both deserve the pole position, but only one can have it, and it was Oscar today.
"We know that Oscar is a build-up driver; he likes to build throughout the weekend, and that is what he did again.
"But he is also very capable of delivering when it is time to do so, Lando as well.
"Both drivers had imperfect laps with issues here and there, but overall, we are happy with the result, and they should be happy with their driving. It was difficult.
"There was a lot of wind, so it was difficult to put perfect laps together."
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