Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Monaco, 2023

Piastri admits he’s ‘not in a rhythm yet’ around Monaco

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In the round-up: Oscar Piastri admitted he has not yet found his rhythm around Monaco after Friday practice

In brief

Piastri admits he’s ‘not in a rhythm yet’ around Monaco

After ending Friday practice 13 places further down the order than McLaren team mate Lando Norris, Piastri admitted he had a “tricky day” around the difficult street circuit.

“A bit off the pace, but I think it’s just about putting it together,” he said. “Especially around here with all the low speed corners, you have a little bit here and there and it can add up very quickly. So we’ll work on it overnight, see what I can do better.

“I think you’ve got to get yourself into a rhythm, which I don’t think I’ve really got myself into yet. From FP1, I improved on the areas I needed to, now it’s just catching up a bit in the rest of the places. So, I’m confident we can make a good step tomorrow.”

Sato sets pace on Carb Day

Two-times Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato was the fastest driver during Carb Day, the last warm up session ahead of Sunday’s race.

Sato set an overall best lap speed of 227.855mph in an accident free session, ahead of Chip Ganassi team mate Scott Dixon with Will Power third. Graham Rahal covered 77 laps for his first run in Stefan Wilson’s Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car.

Vesti on pole for F2 feature race

Frederik Vesti will start on pole position for the Formula 2 feature race in Monaco on Sunday after setting the overall quickest time in group qualifying.

After the field was split between even and odd numbered cars, Vesti set the fastest time in the second second session with a 1’21.053, beating Theo Pourchaire by half a tenth after Clement Novalak brought out the red flags after spinning into the barriers in Portier in the final minutes.

Arthur Leclerc also crashed out of the opening session at Anthony Noghes, before Victor Martins set the fastest time. That means Martins will start alongside Vesti on the front row for Sunday’s feature race, with Pourchaire third and Jack Doohan fourth.

Mini storms to F3 pole

Gabriele Mini secured pole position for the FIA Formula 3 feature race during yesterday’s qualifying session by a wide margin.

Mini’s best time of a 1’23.278 in the second session was over six tenths quicker than Dino Beganovic who secured the fastest time in the opening group. Beganovic topped the first session ahead of Luke Browning and Sebastian Montoya, who stopped on track at the exit of the Swimming Pool in the final minute of the session with damaged rear suspension.

Mini will therefore line up on pole ahead of Beganovic on the front row, with Paul Aron third and Browning fourth.

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Comment of the day

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner may have admitted to being a little bemused by Honda’s decision to stay in F1 after originally announcing they would leave the sport, but @nullapax feels Honda’s U-turn has set fans up for an exciting future…

I was disappointed when Honda said they were quitting F1, but it may turn out to have been for the good.

If they had stayed, then we may now have been staring at a decade of mind-numbing boredom as the RB/Honda conglomerate (with or without Max) totally dominated F1.

This way, I would say, there is a fair chance of at least Aston posing a threat within a few years.

If Mercedes have sorted their act out as well, then a three-way fight could yet be a reality before I die.
Nulla Pax

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Graigchq!

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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2 comments on “Piastri admits he’s ‘not in a rhythm yet’ around Monaco”

  1. The first two options in the Motorsport Magazine post involve unnecessarily high safety risks with approach speeds towards Tabac, even the latter, not to mention that section doesn’t have much scope for alterations anyway, given generally limited flexibility in Monaco.
    The third option would force the paddock further away from the track, so a no-go.
    The last option itself could work, but pointless because of how narrow those streets are, so no better for overtaking.
    Overall, I don’t see much reason for changes, even non-configuration-related.

    So Seb’s first attendance appearance occurred sooner than I would’ve thought in the end.
    I assumed next season or a later European event, for example, the Italian GP, at the earliest.

    Traffic paradise is my limitation would’ve been an even better response.

    The Alfa Romeo tweet takes away a Caption Competition option.
    More seriously, those marshals stood unnecessarily close to the racing line.

    Starting a session in Monaco without a barrier completely repaired is a rare error by race control.

    Perhaps RBR would be even more dominant without Honda officially leaving, but yes, maybe AMR poses a threat three years from now, although I wouldn’t entirely rule out Ferrari besides Mercedes too.

  2. James Coulee
    27th May 2023, 9:23

    The thing about a Honda is: all the people, knowledge and tools that made that team produce the great engines Red Bull is enjoying are elsewhere now. The new Honda will be a new thing, with new people, that has to put infrastructures in place again, and they may very well be a dud again.

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