Oscar Piastri explains ‘hairpin of my life’ on run to maiden F1 pole

Oscar Piastri has explained his “hairpin of my life” radio message after securing a maiden F1 pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Piastri grabbed his first-ever pole in a regular grand prix qualifying session by being fastest of all on both of his Q3 laps at the Shanghai International Circuit as he pipped Mercedes’ George Russell by 0.082s.

The Australian improved on his second lap despite initially being down in the first sector, and credited “the hairpin of my life” as being key over team radio as he celebrated his milestone result.

Asked about that radio message, Piastri said: “My first lap was honestly better than my second lap but just the hairpin at the end of the straight I lost a bit of time and didn’t do the best hairpin.

“The second lap I was about two tenths down on myself, so I kind of just went ‘why not send it?’ into the hairpin and gained those two tenths back and then found a little bit more in the last corner.

“Honestly, without that hairpin, I was tempted to box before that, so I’m pretty happy now that I didn’t. I just did a corner.”

Piastri added: “It means a lot. Being close a few times now and nice to finally have my first pole. I’ve had a couple of sprint poles but to have the first grand prix pole, it means a bit more. Pretty pumped to be honest.

“I’ve worked hard for it and feel like the start of the season has been strong. Obviously the result in Melbourne was a shame but I feel like I’ve been doing a good job otherwise and just happy to end up on pole.”

On his prospects for Sunday’s grand prix, Piastri said: "I want to make sure I keep the clean air. I was pretty happy after the Sprint. We did the most we could. I would have been happier with one spot higher, but with how the race turned out I couldn't have asked for much more.

"I feel like we learned a lot and I'm looking forward to putting that into use tomorrow.”

McLaren boss praises 'mega' Oscar Piastri lap

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown hailed Piastri’s “mega lap” as the team made it back-to-back poles at the start of the 2025 season.

"It's awesome to have Oscar get his first pole. He's been close, a lot of front rows, and that was a mega lap,” Brown told Sky Sports. "Only he and George I think improved, I think the wind direction changed. It was an awesome last sector.

"This has been a tricky weekend for us so far. We know we have the pace, we know we have the pace in the drivers and the car. The Sprint race was great for Oscar, less so for Lando. I'm sure Lando's a little bit grumpy he's not on that front row with him, but he can see him.

“I know it's a short year so far but we've been saying this is going to be a really close season. If you miss a sector or lock a wheel you're going to be P6 or P7."