Oscar Piastri is already holding his breath for the predicted rain race in Canada. Although the FIA also issued an official rain warning earlier in Miami, drivers have not yet driven the current F1 cars in the rain. Moreover, the current power units do not like ‘inconsistent driving’: ‘While in the rain it is actually impossible to stay consistent,’ Piastri explains.
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Oscar Piastri neatly joins teammate Lando Norris on the second row with his fourth starting position for the Canadian GP. The two McLaren drivers proved to be the ‘best of the rest’ during qualifying at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, behind the Mercedes cars. Although McLaren was able to make an important gain, according to Piastri the entire Formula 1 field still faces a big challenge. The Australian is holding his breath for the potential rain race. The FIA already issued an official weather warning for the main event on Saturday.
‘No one has actually driven these cars in the rain yet’
“That will be tough,” Piastri tells the media present in Montreal. “We have actually not driven these cars in the rain at all yet. Some drivers have done some tests, but I haven’t. This circuit is already treacherous in the rain anyway.” Moreover, this season all teams are running very different power units. “These engines don’t like inconsistent driving, while in the rain it is actually impossible to stay consistent. That will probably cause quite a few problems across the whole field. Besides that, I haven’t really heard great stories about the rain tires either.”
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Qualifying on Saturday was also difficult due to the low temperatures and the narrow operating window of the Pirelli tires. “Everyone did warm-up laps, which is quite unusual,” says Piastri. “Once you had done one warm-up lap, it became a bit easier, but it was certainly not easy to get everything out of the tires. We as McLaren did better work today with the car’s balance, especially compared to the sprint. But we still just missed that last bit.”
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Read everything about the Canadian GP here
