Oscar Piastri has qualified a sensational P2 for Sunday afternoon's Japanese Grand Prix on his first ever visit to the Suzuka circuit.
It's Piastri's best qualifying performance of his short F1 career, and comes just days after his McLaren team confirmed he had signed a contract extension that will keep him in the seat until the end of the 2026 season at the earliest.
After a disappointing Singapore Grand Prix weekend that saw his record 10-race win streak come to an end, Red Bull star Max Verstappen claimed pole by 0.581secs.
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Piastri set his time with his first flying lap in the final part of qualifying, and then wasn't able to beat it with his final flyer after making a small mistake.
"Well done everyone. Thank you," he said on team radio on his way back to the pits.
"First lap was pretty good, second lap I nailed the tricky stuff and then f—ed up the less tricky stuff."
Piastri's McLaren teammate Lando Norris will start third. The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Singapore winner Carlos Sainz will start fourth and sixth, split by the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
McLaren bolted on several new upgrades to Lando Norris' car for the Singapore Grand Prix, but they didn't arrive on Piastri's until this weekend.
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In his trackside interview – conducted after qualifying and the race for the top three drivers – Piastri said he could have gone even quicker on his first lap.
"The first lap was pretty solid – I was quite happy with it (but) the last chicane I could have done a better job," he told former grand prix winner Jean Alesi.
"Then the second lap, my first sector was good and the next two sectors, not so good.
"I'm happy to end it in P2 – it's been a really good weekend for the team so far, we put upgrades on the car and, yeah, they're quick.
"We thought we might have a decent chance around here. We've still gonna make it happen, (but) happy to be second and for the team to be second and third, very, very happy."
Piastri started the sprint race in Belgium from P2 and led his first laps early in that race. This marks his best qualifying for a grand prix.
The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will start seventh and eighth, ahead of the local favourite Yuki Tsunoda.
The first part of qualifying was paused after a crash for the Williams of Logan Sargeant at the final corner.
Exiting the final chicane and sweeping through the final corner, Sergeant's car twitched underneath him, and he was unable to save it before it hit the sand and eventually the wall.
The race will get underway at 3pm (AEST) on Sunday.
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