Bernie Collins reveals what Oscar Piastri’s engineer told her after Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying

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Bernie Collins “bumped into” McLaren race engineer Tom Stallard straight after Oscar Piastri only qualified P5 for the 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix this Saturday in Sin City.

Stallard has worked with Piastri since the latter registered his Formula 1 debut with McLaren in the 2023 season. Together, the 24-year-old has so far taken five career pole positions. He also scored all five of his poles in 2025, but qualifying has not yielded positive results of late.

Piastri is now set to start a fourth successive Grand Prix from outside of the top three on the grid, as he only lapped the Las Vegas Strip Circuit in 1:48.961 during Q3. McLaren teammate Lando Norris scored pole for the Las Vegas GP with a 1:47.934 in the final moments of Q3.

Qualifying P5 for the Las Vegas GP is one of Piastri’s worst qualifying results thus far in the 2025 F1 season. The McLaren man set his worst qualifying result through the first 22 rounds when Piastri crashed in qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP and he finished Q3 in P9 as a result.

McLaren do not blame Isack Hadjar for Oscar Piastri qualifying P5 for the Las Vegas GP

While Piastri could only blame himself in Baku, the Australian endured disappointment during qualifying for the Las Vegas GP after being caught by the yellow flags at Turn 12 after Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc ran deep. Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar also pulled alongside Piastri.

READ MORE: Everything to know about the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix including past winners

Hadjar pulling alongside Piastri during qualifying for the Las Vegas GP forced the latter to go into the T12 run-off area and abort his last lap in Q3. Yet Stallard told Collins after qualifying for the Las Vegas GP that Piastri had already aborted his final run after Leclerc’s yellow flags.

Collins said on Sky Sports F1 (22/11, 05:30): “I actually went to grab a cup of tea at McLaren and bumped into Tom Stallard. He said that Piastri had lifted for the yellow flag that he could see ahead. So, he had done a lift that allowed Hadjar to be alongside.

“So, from their side, they think there’s nothing doing with the Hadjar thing. It was just that Piastri was unlucky, got the yellow flag [and] lifted out of it. And what we’ve seen when it clips in is that the two of them were together.”

Lando Norris scores pole for the Las Vegas GP, as he tries to outscore Oscar Piastri at a seventh straight round

Piastri only qualifying P5 for the Las Vegas GP while McLaren teammate Norris took pole this Saturday leaves the former facing the latter potentially outscoring him amid their F1 drivers’ championship fight at a seventh straight round. Piastri last outscored Norris at the Dutch GP.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Piastri opened a season-high 34-point lead over Norris after winning at Zandvoort, thanks to the 26-year-old Briton also retiring from the Dutch GP whilst running P2. But Norris now has a 24-point lead over the 24-year-old Australian ahead of the Las Vegas GP in round 22/24.

The 24-point margin marks Norris’ biggest lead in the drivers’ standings so far in 2025, even eclipsing his 23-point lead after the first round of the session. Norris won the Australian GP in March to lead Piastri by 23 points, after the latter recovered to P9 after spinning while P2.