Oscar Piastri: I require a tow bar to attach to Mercedes in order to compete for victory in Baku.

“If he has a tow bar that I can attach to, maybe," he joked with a smile. "But yeah, we'll see what we can manage."

Considering the distance Russell was able to create over his competitors, it's plausible to suggest that his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli would have joined him on the front row had he not crashed in Q1. At a circuit known for its overtaking opportunities, it's conceivable that Antonelli could still pose a challenge to Piastri in the race.

Additionally, the McLarens did not display particularly strong performance during practice sessions, which may indicate that the papaya cars could be more defensive than aggressive come race day. Piastri acknowledged that the weekend has been tough for the Woking team, but qualifying yielded a somewhat surprising outcome.

Having not placed higher than sixth in any practice sessions, he even held the top spot briefly during Q3, yet that didn't accurately reflect the situation at a track that doesn't necessarily favor this year's McLaren car.

Moreover, Piastri encountered a brake issue on Friday morning, prompting his team to resort to unorthodox solutions to mitigate the vibrations—such as using cable ties to secure certain components to avoid losing track time.

“It hasn't been an easy weekend, that's for sure, in several respects," Piastri noted. "We haven't been particularly fast. We were also using cable ties on our car throughout Friday, which is never a good sign. So it’s been somewhat tricky for us.

George Russell, Mercedes, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

“In qualifying, we discovered a bit of pace. So, yeah, it's not the first time this has happened to us this year. We seem to be on the back foot during practice, then find that extra edge when qualifying comes around.

"I was quite surprised to see us 1-2 after the first lap of Q3, but unfortunately, we had no chance against George."

Still, the Australian believes McLaren can compete with the other teams on Saturday.

“The Mercedes cars look incredibly fast here," he stated, "but everyone else seems to be in a somewhat similar pack. Our race pace appeared fairly strong yesterday, to be honest. So I think we can hold our ground and contend in the group behind George, and we'll see when Kimi starts making his way through as well.”

Piastri's teammate Lando Norris will start fifth on the grid.