Piastri slates “very poor mistake” that led to Mexico Q1 exit

Oscar Piastri has conceded the error that saw him eliminated from Q1 for Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix was a “very poor mistake”.

The McLaren driver went off the track at Turn 12 in the opening phase of qualifying, with his car bottoming out over the kerbs. His lap time was deleted for crossing the track limits, but the time he lost by getting out of shape would not have been good enough to secure a spot in Q2 anyway.

Up until that point the Australian had been over a second up on his previous best, leaving him to rue the error that saw him dumped out of Q1 for the first time this season.

“I just went off in the Turn 12, got beached on the kerb there, and that was it,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1. “My lap was easily going to be enough, so it’s very frustrating to make that mistake. I lost about a second.

“It’s just a tricky circuit but I don’t think today was down to it being tricky. It was just I made a very poor mistake, and that was it.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Piastri’s Q1 exit mirrors team-mate Lando Norris’ last year, when Norris saw his best lap deleted for track limits and was forced to start from the back of the field.

Despite qualifying 19th – and starting from 17th due to grid penalties for others – Norris moved up to finish fifth in the race, with Piastri hoping to emulate his team-mate on Sunday afternoon.

“We had a similar kind of position for Lando last year,” Piastri added. “So I’ll make sure I do my homework on how he went through the field and try and do the same.”

Piastri will be joined at the rear of the field by home hero Sergio Perez, who was eliminated in 18th. Perez is facing a similar comeback race in front of his ardent Mexican fans on another challenging weekend for the under-pressure Red Bull man.