SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Formula One championship leader Oscar Piastri said he was a bit surprised that his McLaren was outpaced by Mercedes and Red Bull in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Australian was only able to manage the third fastest lap and will line up on the second row behind Mercedes pole-sitter George Russell and Red Bull's world champion Max Verstappen in Sunday's race.
Given that he crashed in both qualifying and the race in the last round in Azerbaijan, however, Piastri was happy just to have had a clean session at the Marina Bay circuit.
"I just don't think we had to pace tonight, which is a little bit of a surprise for us," he told reporters.
"But we've not had the easiest last couple of weekends. So it's not a huge surprise in some ways, because of how it's gone recently. But I do think we felt after practice we had a better chance."
Piastri is 25 points ahead of his teammate Lando Norris in the title race but said he would not be playing it safe to increase his lead over the Englishman, who qualified on the third row in fifth place.
"Obviously, if there's an opportunity to finish higher than I'm starting, then I'll try and take it," Piastri said.
"I'm not just going to settle for the position I'm in, or any position, just ahead of Lando. I want to maximize the race I can get.
"(But) it's very tough to overtake around here," he added. "You need a fair bit of extra pace to get past someone, so we'll see if we've got that tomorrow."
Norris said McLaren, so dominant earlier in the season, just had to accept that their rivals had got better.
"I think others are just improving," he said. "Mercedes are doing a very good job. Red Bull, like we've seen, have been very good the last few weekends, so nothing is a surprise."
The 25-year-old, who won from pole in Singapore last year, said he had been unwell for the last couple of days but was not making any excuses.
"I just didn't put it all together," he said. "I mean, we're talking small margins, and clearly, as a team, the car's not in the right place. We're just not quick enough, and I just didn't do the best job."
Better news for the team is that if both drivers do no worse than hold their positions on Sunday, they will earn far more than the 13 points required to secure McLaren a second successive constructors' championship.
"We are ... certainly in contention for podium finish," team principal Andrea Stella said.
"It's a very important race for many reasons, and it's important that we are there."
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
