Aussie F1 driver Oscar Piastri was left frustrated after an ‘unfair’ yellow flag on his qualifying lap disrupted his time with rival Max Verstappen fuming at the Aussie’s McLaren teammate in Singapore. Mercedes were quick in qualifying with George Russell finishing ahead of reigning world champion Verstappen to start at the front of the grid.
Piastri finished 0.366 seconds seconds slower than Russell’s best lap to start in third. Regardless, Piastri put in an improved performance from the Azerbaijan GP. However, F1 commentator Martin Brundle pointed out Piastri was unfortunate to be hindered after a yellow flag on his first qualifying lap didn’t help his chances.
Oscar Piastri (pictured) was left frustrated after an ‘unfair’ yellow flag on his qualifying lap halted his first chance in Singapore as Max Verstappen (pictured left) fumed at Lando Norris. (Images: Getty Images)
The Aussie was forced to abort his first lap on Saturday when a yellow flag was thrown out after Alex Albon moved to the side to allow Piastri to pass. Albon’s decision to move out of the way for the quicker car was normal, but the F1 marshal deemed the car had gone off the racing line.
This didn’t sit well with Piastri who pointed out over the McLaren radio it was an unnecessary flag. “Aw man, come on!” the Aussie driver said to his engineers. “You can’t give a yellow flag to someone getting out of the way!”
This resulted in his first attempted lap to be abandoned and only added more pressure on his future attempts. Albon was moving out fo the way and not impeding Piastri with plenty of run-off area on turn one, two and three.
There was no mistake from either driver so for the benefit of Piastri the yellow flag could have been put away. It also didn’t help his tyre situation with Piastri losing out on using the fresh tyres on his first lap. While not a major setback this move didn’t sit well with Brundle. The former driver, turned commentator, suggested more common sense needed to be implemented when incidents like this occur.
“That car was just getting out of his way. That’s wrecked his lap; that’s wrecked his tyres. But basically because that car ran deep on the outside to get out of the way, he’s been given a yellow flag,” Brundle said on Sky Sports. “He’s right. That’s unfair. Unfortunately, the marshals are just doing their job specifically. But there has to be a level of sort of common sense that goes into that.”
Oscar Piastri calls for tweak to yellow flag rule
Fortunately, Piastri recovered and showed class to shrug off the incident having finished third in qualifying. Although he admitted more changes to the rules could be applied going forward with Brundle suggesting common sense is needed in moments like this.
“Any time on a street circuit you don’t do laps is frustrating, and I did feel like through Q1 I was playing catch-up a little bit,” he admitted. “But ultimately, it didn’t really affect much. It was obviously frustrating to have a yellow flag thrown for someone getting out of the way.
“There’s been a lot of adjustments on the yellow flags and stuff like that, but I think there’s still some tweaking to do there, because Alex did the best job he could to get out of my way, and it ended up costing me a lap anyway. So, some things to look at there.”
Max Verstappen fumes at Lando Norris
Piastri shrugged off the drama even though he was seeking a better finish following his disappointment last GP. “Obviously, I would have wanted more, but I don’t think we had four-tenths in it to go and get pole,” he said. “So ultimately, pretty happy. Feel like it’s been a good weekend so far, and we built up through it nicely. Ultimately it was a pretty clean session, so that’s all I could ask for.”
While Russell was surprised McLaren struggled in qualifying with Lando Norris finishing fifth. “We certainly didn’t anticipate to be fighting for a pole position here,” Russell added.
Verstappen was frustrated after the race having felt Norris blocked him from pushing his Red Bull and closing the gap on Russell. Verstappen let his feelings known about Norris who he felt should have got out of his way.
“That’s what happens when there’s a car just cruising two seconds in front,” Verstappen said about qualifying. “That’s noted,” he warned. “It will be remembered as well. I’m disappointed to not be first, but for us this weekend so far has been really good.”
Max Verstappen (pictured left) wasn’t thrilled with Oscar Piastri’s (pictured right) teammate Lando Norris after qualifying in Singapore.
Oscar Piastri (pictured) was unfortunate in Singapore qualifying to have to abandon his first lap due to a yellow flag.