Oscar Piastri 'shaking' after narrow Max Verstappen defeat

04/20/2025 12:30 AM

Oscar Piastri was left "shaking" with adrenaline following his narrow Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying defeat to Max Verstappen.  Verstappen stole pole by 0.010s from the McLaren, with the gap being just 0.001s between the pair after the first laps in Q3, interrupted by Lando Norris's hefty crash.  Piastri took back provisional pole after his second lap, but Verstappen pipped him by the 0.010s to nab a second pole of the season, following his Suzuka stunner.  Reflecting, Piastri felt there was not much more he could have done, as he talked about "shaking" following the lap.  "I was pretty happy with it, there wasn't too much more left in that lap, so I am happy with the job I did," Piastri explained. "I was playing catch-up through the first part of qualifying, and the last lap was the best I could have done, but Max did a great job.  "It is another high-speed circuit for them where they seem to be having more success, but he did a good job and our pace is strong to fight for tomorrow, it will be tough and the tyres are softer than last year, so we will see if that plays to our advantage. "It is tough around here, and once you fall out of rhythm, it is hard to get back into it, and you need to get all the corners right because if you don't get one, you don't get six corners in a row.  "There is a lot of adrenaline, I'm shaking a little bit from driving around the streets, but it is a really cool circuit."