Oscar Piastri has explained his disappointment with how he performed in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, even though his McLaren helped carry him to victory the following day.
The Australian underlined how unlikely it is to win from fourth on the grid, whilst acknowledging the "unexpected" pace in his MCL39 contributed significantly to his recovery drive.
Having suffered an uncharacteristically poor grid-setting session on Saturday at the Miami International Autodrome, Lando Norris' skirmish with Max Verstappen on lap one brought him right back into contention on Sunday.
From there, he was able to kick on, clinically dispatching of the Dutchman whilst his team-mate struggled to get past the Red Bull.
The "good fortune" he received helped him extend his lead in the drivers' standings to 16 points over Norris, who came home second in Florida.
"I think [the Miami] weekend was not my best, and a lot of that was [in qualifying]," the 24-year-old told media including RacingNews365.
"The race was pretty solid, but [in qualifying] I was pretty frustrated with my performance.
"Ultimately, yes, I won the race, but I think the likelihood of winning many races [after] qualifying fourth is pretty low. I did a lot of things right today, but there was definitely some good fortune there as well, and a very quick car."
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Exception to the rule
Piastri is acutely aware he will not always be afforded the same saving grace, describing how the underlying performance of his car was even more pronounced on Sunday in the Sunshine State.
The six-time grand prix winner conceded the MCL39 is consistently "strong", but nonetheless maintained the need for further improvements - both from himself and the team.
"I don’t want to rely on that every single Sunday," the McLaren driver explained. "Clearly, this is the exception to the pace we’ve had this year.
"Yes, we’ve always had a strong car, but the pace we had from lap one it felt like was unexpected, even for us.
"I’ll definitely take the performance and we’ll try and work out how to do that every weekend, but there’s still definitely things to work on from a personal side and from a team point of view."
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Join RacingNews365's Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look back on the biggest talking points from the Miami Grand Prix. Ferrari's radio tension, Oscar Piastri taking charge and Max Verstappen needing to change his McLaren approach are major discussions.
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