Oscar Piastri attributes his second place in the Qatar Grand Prix to the way “the heavens parted” as he made places at the start to cap off an excellent weekend.
Already with a Sprint pole and victory under his belt from Saturday, Piastri was starting sixth in the main race after having his fastest lap time in qualifying deleted for track limits violations. That error was negated almost immediately though as Piastri emerged from the first corner in second place behind Max Verstappen, saying he did nothing special in avoiding the collision between the Mercedes drivers ahead.
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“Hit the brakes at the right time, and watch everyone else go off!” Piastri said. “Honestly, it was as simple as that. I don’t really know what happened. Obviously, saw some cars spinning and whatever else but, yeah, the heavens kind of just parted way for me and through to second I went.”
Picking up a total of 26 points from the race weekend, Piastri admits it was one of the best weekends of his rookie career as he fought at the front for a second race in a row.
“It’s been pretty exceptional, to be honest. I think Friday was difficult. Obviously a bit disappointed after qualifying on Friday, but (Saturday) went as close to perfect as it could have. And (in the race) I think second was probably the most we could have done. So, very, very happy.
“Exciting weekend, a lot of progress made, and I think I’m just very proud of the fact that as a team and also for myself personally, that we’ve managed to get the most out of what our car’s been capable of.
“I think (maximum stints) probably helped us rather than hindered. I think it ended up in a race where we could push flat out the whole time or very close to, which I don’t think I’ve been able to say in an F1 race before. So, I think it probably helped us a bit.
“I think the Red Bull normally is a step ahead in terms of tire degradation maybe we didn’t see that as much with the rules. But I think also our car pace this weekend has been very strong. So I think that’s also been another factor.”
Piastri’s second place did look under threat at one stage as teammate Lando Norris closed in late on, with the Australian admitting he wasn’t expecting McLaren to impose team orders in the final ten laps to bring the cars home.
“I was a little bit surprised to be honest. I would have accepted it either way. But obviously there was a lot of concerns about tires and track limits and stuff. So I think getting second and third for the team was the most important thing.”