Piastri: Miami a tricky circuit to master

Oscar Piastri has described the Miami International Autodrome as a “tricky” circuit to get on top of for a variety of reasons.

Piastri made his first appearance at the Florida venue last weekend, finishing 19th after nursing an ailing McLaren for much of the race.

He was one of three rookies in the race and four drivers who’d never competed at the circuit before.

Resurfaced ahead of this year’s event, the track offered little grip to drivers initially before improving as the weekend progressed.

However, it remained slippery off line, which threatened to punish small mistakes heavily.

Charles Leclerc crashed twice over the weekend while Nico Hulkenberg also spun into the barrier during practice.

There were no such dramatic moments for Piastri, who nonetheless admitted the circuit posed some unique challenges.

“It’s been tricky,” he said over the weekend.

“I think in all the sessions the rookie have, me, Logan [Sargeant], and Nyck [de Vries] have taken a while to get up to speed.

“P2 [on Friday] I wasn’t particularly happy with myself. P3 I think was quite a good step forward.

“Qualifying I think was a decent effort. I think there was a little bit left on the table but looking at most people’s onboards, it looks pretty tricky for everyone, so I think everyone can say the same thing.”

Accuracy was important, Piastri explained, given the low grip surface away from the racing line.

“It’s certainly not an easy circuit to learn,” he explained.

“There’s a lot of corners that you miss the apex by a tiny bit and you’ve got no grip; you hit a kerb slightly the wrong way it’s quite tricky.

“To be honest, seeing half the corners is quite tricky – under the bridge, the chicane is completely blind.

“There’s quite a lot of specific things that are tricky… It’s difficult.”