Shanghai, March 23 : Oscar Piastri was 'pumped' to claim his first Formula 1 pole position in Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix after admitting to some struggles earlier in the session. After Piastri displayed good pace in Saturday's Sprint earlier in the day, the Australian continued to look in strong form during Qualifying, grabbing a provisional pole in Q3 before sealing it for real by the chequered flag.

However, when it was put to Piastri after stepping out of the car that he had seemed hooked up throughout the day, the 23-year-old joked, 'I'm glad it looked like that because it didn't feel like that!

'Q3, just found a lot of pace ' Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling. The car just came alive in Q3 and I think I came alive in Q3. [I'm] happy with what I did at the end, it was still' the laps were a little bit scruffy. I'm just pumped to be on pole, so [I'm] very happy," said Piastri, the McLaren driver.

Fellow McLaren driver Lando Norris, meanwhile, faced some ups and downs during Saturday's qualifying session in Shanghai. He had taken the final point on offer with P8 in the Sprint before aborting his final flying lap during Q3 in Qualifying, meaning that he could not improve on his time in P3.

Norris aborted his final flying lap in Q3, leaving the Briton in third place on the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix Despite this, the Briton spoke positively about improvements made to the car prior to Qualifying and blamed his own errors for any struggles.

'[I'm] always disappointed if I'm not on pole but Oscar deserved it today. He's done a very good job all weekend so [I'm] happy for him ' his first pole in Formula 1, so it's always cool.

'Just a couple of mistakes [on my side] again, it's kind of been my case this weekend. The car was feeling a bit better. I felt a lot more comfortable with the car so [it was] a step in the right direction, especially from yesterday where I was struggling a lot and even this morning I was struggling a lot, so a much better direction that we're going in. [I'm] not too disappointed," said Lando.

/IANS