Oscar Piastri makes staggering claim after surprise McLaren struggles

Oscar Piastri has claimed that he has "hit more walls this weekend" than in his entire career so far after qualifying in third for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The championship leader has endured a "messy" couple of days at the Circuit de Monaco, making securing third on the grid a positive result. 

Piastri has struggled to get into a rhythm in his McLaren, with him having to settle for being almost two-tenths slower than Lando Norris who broke the lap record to claim pole.

Due to his difficult weekend, the Australian was left pleased to secure a second row start.

"Intense, as it always is around here," said Piastri. "Quite reminiscent of last year. To be honest, my first lap felt good, and then the second lap, a mistake in the harbour chicane .

"And, yeah, left a little bit on there. I think, to beat Lando today it was going to be tough. So well done to him. But no, still pretty happy, it's been a pretty messy weekend so far. So to come out with a lap that I thought was pretty good and third is a decent result."

Piastri managed to avoid a big collision with any wall during qualifying, having triggered a red flag in second practice after contact with the Sainte Devote barrier. 

However, he still highlighted his skirmishes with the walls in Monaco, to an extent that he made a remarkable claim.

"I think I've hit more walls this weekend than I have in my whole career," claimed Piastri. "So it's been untidy, but yeah, just been struggling to get into the groove a bit. 

"I think in qualifying I was much happier with things, and I felt pretty good. But yeah, we've been doing some digging this weekend, and to come out with this result is a decent effort."