Piastri sees it was all about hanging on to beat Norris to pole

17:19, 31 May

Updated: 18:20, 31 May

byNorberto Mujica

Oscar Piastri reacts to his mega pole position lap for the Spanish Grand Prix and highlights the turn around McLaren have experienced in the past 12 months.

Speaking on the grid the polesitter for the race in Barcelona said: "Last night we found some pace and today the car has been mega and I feel like I've been able to put in some good laps as well."

"So thank you to the team for all the hard work. This was a pretty miserable scene 12 months ago, so to turn it around in the best way is a great result."

Piastri just hung on long enough to bag pole ahead of Norris

For Piastri it was about hanging on after the first two sectors, with the tyres going off.

"I improved quite a lot in turn one actually. And then there was a couple of other places in the lap where I've been struggling a bit all day. I don't know if I necessarily did better, but no, it all just came to me maybe in the first half of the lap."

"In the second half I could just about hang on. It wasn't the perfect lap, but I think around here with the tyres going off so much through the lap, it's very tough to do that. So I'm very, very happy with all the work we put in."

He will have his closest title rival and teammate Lando Norris right up there with him in the front row, so Piastri naturally highlights a good get away off the line as paramount to nab a win tomorrow.

"It's going to be an interesting one tomorrow and I'm pretty glad that I'm starting from pole. It's obviously a long run to turn one, so I've got to make sure we're trying to get a good start tomorrow."

"I'm very proud of the work we've done today and starting [in] the best spot. So I can't thank the team enough and hope that we'll have some fun tomorrow."