‘Head scratcher’: Piastri baffled by ‘tough’ Austin shocker

Oscar Piastri has labelled his lack of pace during qualifying for the United States Grand Prix as a “head scratcher”.

Both Piastri and McLaren teammate Lando Norris have struggled for pace all weekend and could manage only seventh and eighth for Monday morning’s (AEDT) race.

“It’s been tough all weekend. Just not (had) any pace – it’s a bit of a head scratcher,” Piastri told F1 TV.

"I think the car has the potential to be quick, but it's just incredibly difficult to drive. It's been a challenge from the first lap yesterday until now.

"So not a massive surprise to end up where we are."

The potential is there – Norris set the fastest time in Q1 in the only highlight for the papaya team of the whole session.

Piastri suggested the team had taken a wild swing at the set-up to try and propel their drivers up the order.

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"We've tried a lot of stuff, but nothing really seemed to be the fix," he said.

“We didn't really expect any of the changes we made to make a massive difference. But it's just been incredibly difficult to get lap time out of the car.

"So yeah, just one of those weekends at the moment."

Norris was equally downtrodden. His final lap in Q3 was deleted for exceeding track limits, but only dropped him from sixth to eighth.

“I just did a terrible job today – I’m not very happy with myself,” he told Sky Sports.

“ … It’s easily the hardest car I’ve ever driven in my life, but it was still easily good enough for P2 today.

"So just disappointing, really."

Meanwhile up the front, Kimi Antonelli took a shock pole ahead of the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.

Antonelli is an outside chance of becoming F1’s youngest-ever world champion following Monday’s race, but to do so must win and have his two closest rivals George Russell and Lewis Hamilton suffer misfortune.

Starting from pole will give him the best chance of ticking that first box.

Antonelli and his Mercedes team had barely looked threatening during practice and the early part of qualifying before the 20-year-old shot to the top of the time sheets in the opening runs of Q3.

Gusty winds meant nobody except Hamilton was able to improve on their times in the final runs.

After Ferrari dominated the three practice sessions, Charles Leclerc and Hamilton could only manage fourth and fifth, ahead of George Russell in sixth and the McLarens.

Antonelli said he was not expecting to be fighting for pole, and that he wasn’t sure his car will be quickest in the race.

"It's not going to be easy, but we'll try to get a good start, and then hopefully we'll lead into turn one," he said.

"Then we'll try to set the pace, even though it's going to be very tight.

“Q3 was very tough with the wind - very gusty, unpredictable, but happy we’ve stuck it on pole.”

Verstappen said he was disappointed to have missed out on pole.

"Q3 was not good … for whatever reason, on both of the (tyre) sets, I just didn't have good (car)," he said.

“There were no mistakes, but just no grip, and I started to slide a lot. Then the final lap … with the tailwind in places, you try to push a bit more, you hit a bump wrong, and the car is like a kangaroo, so you have a massive slide, (and) the lap is over.

"Not what I wanted, not what I expected, but if it's still a P2, I'll take it."

Despite his lowly starting position, Piastri will be hoping to make the most of the ace he’s managed to hide up his sleeve to potentially move further up the order by the time the chequered flag falls on Monday morning (AEDT).

The Aussie was able to secure progression to the second part of qualifying using the slower medium tyres, saving him a new set of softs to use in the race. Antonelli and Russell were able to pull the same trick.

The Red Bull pair were also able to save a set of soft tyres by making it through to Q3 by using the same set of tyres in the opening two sessions.

The race begins 7am Monday.