Oscar Piastri conceded McLaren's pace had "not been quite as comfortable"
The current world championship leader will start Sunday's race in P3, behind Max Verstappen
The Australian boasts a 34-point cushion at the top of the drivers' standings
Oscar Piastri conceded McLaren's pace had "not been quite as comfortable" during qualifying for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
The current world championship leader will start Sunday's race in P3, behind Max Verstappen and team-mate Lando Norris.
Piastri finished 0.190seconds behind Verstappen, who set a track record at Monza with a brilliant lap time of 1:18:792.
The Australian boasts a 34-point cushion at the top of the drivers' standings, but feels the margin across the field has been much tighter this weekend.
"Turn 1 was a little bit average, but the rest of the lap all felt pretty tight," he reflected. "I feel like I executed a pretty good session, built up to it a little bit at the start and found my feet, but I think it’s just been incredibly tight this weekend.
"Max and the Red Bull looked quick this weekend – to be honest, a lot of teams have looked quick. It's not been quite as comfortable for us, so the result's not a big surprise, but we'd like to be a little bit further up.
"The race is always very different. I'm pretty confident [for Sunday]."
After a positive first day in Monza, Ferrari have had to settle for a place on the second row of the grid, with Charles Leclerc finishing two-tenths of a second behind Verstappen in fourth.
Leclerc, who won the Italian Grand Prix last year, said he was "disappointed but not surprised" to have missed out on the fight for pole position, but had no regrets regarding his performance.
"It was always going to be very difficult to fight with the top three," he said. "We knew that the Red Bull and the McLaren had something more than us for this weekend, and unfortunately, that proved to be the case.
"Not much we can do more, especially in a qualifying like this. I think the lap was great, and I couldn't do much more."
