A baffled Piastri reacts 'frustrated and dissapointed' to Leclerc's pole

Oscar Piastri lost out on pole to a mighty lap by Charles Leclerc which came out of nowhere in the dying moments of Q3. After the session, the championship leader reacts in shock and frustration.

When asked what his feelings were following Q3, Piastri said: "Depends where you're sat. If you're sat where Charles is, fantastic. If you're sat where I'm sat, bizarre and somewhat frustrating."

"I think the conditions completely changed and it was just weird. Like my first lap felt terrible because I was pushing too much and kind of with the wind direction from the first two sessions in mind," admitted Piastri to being caught out by the changing conditions.

Second lap went even worse in bizarre qualifying at Hungary

"So then I felt like I did a better job on the second lap of managing expectations and it was even worse. So, yeah, a bizarre session," the Australian driver explained.

"But, yes, I need to look back and see what differences it made. Things definitely felt more tricky for myself as well in Q3. But I think for everybody it would have been difficult. So, that's not our excuse," added a sober Piastri.

Regarding the difference to the competitors prior to Q3, Piastri admits he wasn't surprised by it. But having it fall away in the final part of qualifying does present a connundrum for him and McLaren, saying "it wasn't very fun losing that half a second."

Piastri rises up to Leclerc's challenge

Reacting to his pole position Leclerc said he 'would do whatever it takes' to maintain the lead and bring home Ferrari's first race win of the season.

The championship leader though, doesn't fear his chances for tomorrow. In fact, the complete opposite. "[I'm] Pretty confident (he can win the race, ed.) It was good last year, so hopefully it can be good again this year."

Nevertheless the Hungarian Grand Prix might see some rain fall. "Like Charles said, there's some rain around. We'll see if that impacts the race."

"I think our pace has been good, but Charles has been quick all weekend in certain sessions, so it is a very difficult track to overtake on. And yeah, it's not going to be the easiest place to try and regain a lead," Piastri acknowledged.

Regarding the start and the chances the grippier surface may provide for him, Piastri observed: "Hard to know. It's still off the racing line, so I expect it to still have the same problems. But we'll have to wait and see."