Max Verstappen on pole, Oscar Piastri 6th on the grid as racing returns to Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
Oscar Piastri is bracing himself for another “challenging” day in his McLaren at the Sepang International Circuit after he could only finish seventh in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
With his teammate, world champion Lando Norris, only finishing sixth on Saturday, the Australian admitted it was “going to be tough” for McLaren to battle out of the midfield as Max Verstappen looked the man to beat again following his first pole of the season.
It felt almost like the clock had been wound back with Verstappen and his old rival, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, back on the front row together, but McLaren looked out of the picture with Norris conceding the team was “struggling” at the Bahrain race that’s been moved to Malaysia because of the Middle East conflict.
“It was tricky out there for sure,” sighed Piastri, who’ll start from sixth on the grid after third-placed qualifier Isack Hadjar suffered a five-place penalty for an engine change.
