Oscar Piastri laments costly mistake after 'messy' qualifying

Oscar Piastri admitted he "left a little bit on the table" during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix after a mistake on his first push lap in Q3.

The McLaren driver highlighted the "tricky" conditions facing the drivers in a "messy" start to the final section of the grid-setting session.

The Melbourne native fell less than one-tenth of a second short of Lando Norris in a front-row lock out for the constructors' champions at his home race.

Overall, Piastri maintained he was pleased with how things went in qualifying at Albert Park, calling it a "great start" to the 2025 season.

"Pretty happy," the 23-year-old contended. "It's obviously great to start the year on the front row.

"Only one position further back than I would have liked but no, I think it's a great start to the year - and great to have the team on the front row.

"Now we'll reset and see what tomorrow has in store, but pretty happy with how qualifying went, just not quite enough in Q3, but it's the start of a long season, so pretty happy with a solid start."

Deficit to Norris

Assessing where pole position was lost to his team-mate, Piastri pointed to the final sector, which was slower than his best time in Q2.

"I think it's probably a little bit in a couple of places," the two-time grand prix winner explained.

"I think the sector 3, I lost a little bit of time compared to the lap before from Q2, and I also locked up there and went off in the first run of Q3, so I didn't really want to do that twice.

"And yeah, maybe left it a little bit on the table. But I think it was pretty tricky out there for everybody. Q3 at the start looked pretty messy, so I'm just happy to be on the front row and have a good start."