Having qualified third in Baku after enduring a difficult build-up to the main sessions, Oscar Piastri was happy with the grid position he earned for Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

However, the McLaren driver thinks expecting to go much further in the race is unrealistic, given the gap to Mercedes. While the Australian lost just 0.001s to Charles Leclerc in Q3, the deficit to George Russell was a massive 0.838s.

So when he was asked during the post-qualifying press conference whether he could challenge the Briton in the race, Piastri resorted to sarcasm.

“If he’s got a tow bar that I can hook onto the back of, maybe," he smiled. "But yeah, we'll see what we can do."

Given the gap Russell managed to build over his rivals, it's easy to suggest his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli would have joined him on the front row had he not crashed in Q1 - and at a track where it's relatively easy to overtake, it's not entirely out of the question that Antonelli could still challenge Piastri in the race.

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  Formula 1Starting grid for the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

What's more, the McLarens didn't look particularly strong during the practice sessions, which could serve as a hint that the papaya cars may actually be on the defensive rather than the attack on race day. Piastri conceded that the weekend has been difficult for the Woking squad - but qualifying delivered a somewhat unexpected result.

Having not finished higher than sixth in any of the practice sessions, he was even briefly first during Q3, but that wasn't really a representative picture at a track which doesn't particularly suit this year's McLaren car.

On top of that, Piastri experienced a brake issue on Friday morning, forcing his team to use some unusual methods to combat the vibrations - tying some parts together with cable ties in order not to lose track time.

“It's been not an easy weekend, for sure, from a few areas," Piastri said. "You know, we've not been particularly quick. We were also running cable ties on our car through Friday, which is never a great sign. So it's been a little bit of a tricky one for us.

George Russell, Mercedes, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

“In qualifying we found a bit of pace. So, yeah, it’s not the first time that’s happened to us this year. We seem like we’re a bit on the back foot through practice, we come out in qualifying and, yeah, we just find that bit extra.

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

Still, the Australian reckons McLaren can fight the other teams on Saturday.

“The Mercedes look incredibly quick here," he said, "but everyone else looks like they’re in a similar-ish kind of pack. And our race pace looked pretty good yesterday, to be honest. So I think we can hang on and battle in the pack behind George, and see what lap Kimi starts coming through as well.”

Piastri's team-mate Lando Norris will line up fifth on the grid.

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- The Motorsport.com Team