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F1 fans were left cringing as Oscar Piastri was told mid-interview that he had lost his third place in Qatar Grand Prix qualifying.
There was track limit chaos in the desert with both McLaren drivers having their fastest times in Q3 deleted after the session. The Woking squad, now regarded as the second-fastest team after Red Bull, thought they had qualified second and fourth for Sunday’s race. Lando Norris was originally on the front row with world champion-elect Max Verstappen. However, his two track limit infringements saw him relegated down to 10th.
That at least moved Piastri up to third behind Verstappen and the Mercedes of George Russell, only for the Australian’s best time to be deleted too, but not before he had joined Naomi Schiff for the top-three interviews. Schiff, already confused as to why Norris wasn’t around, seemed to get the news just as she was joined by Piastri.
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She said: “I think we’re just hearing that you’ve had a track limits infringement. Is that accurate? Did you know something was under investigation?” Piastri ruefully replied: “I didn’t know but this is fun, isn’t it? Wonderful!”
Schiff awkwardly added: “It was lovely speaking to you Oscar. Thank you coming to speak to us.” As he walked away, Piastri’s sighed: “I’ll try again tomorrow [during sprint qualifying and the sprint race].”
What do you think about the track limits chaos in Qatar? Tell us in the comments section below
Fans didn’t know where to look during the excruciating exchange. One said: “Felt really sorry for him.” A second simply said: “Cringe.”
Another added: “Poor Naomi didn't have a clue who she should be interviewing, ‘where's Lando’, ‘why am I interviewing you’ to Oscar! What a mess!”
A fourth commented: “Could have told him after. Handled it like a champ though!”
Piastri will now start Sunday’s race down in sixth. McLaren’s loss was Mercedes gain, with Lewis Hamilton joining Russell in the top three. Fernando Alonso will start fourth with Charles Leclerc fifth.
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