Tag: Oscar Piastri

Piastri targeting Monaco victory after front row commitment

Oscar Piastri believes his qualifying performance at the last two races have shown his confidence to be committed on tough circuits and is targeting victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc secured pole position in Monaco with Piastri …

Oscar Piastri believes his qualifying performance at the last two races have shown his confidence to be committed on tough circuits and is targeting victory at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc secured pole position in Monaco with Piastri second on the street circuit, following the same performance in Imola a week ago. On that first occasion, Piastri lost his front row starting spot due to an impeding incident earlier in the session, but he says both tracks have similarities that allow him to display how confident he is with the upgraded McLaren.

“I think we came into this weekend pretty confident that we could be in the fight for pole and the win again,” Piastri said. “Going into qualifying, maybe we weren’t as convinced this week. But no, it felt good. Pretty hooked up in qualifying.

“And I think for me, we say Imola and Monaco are very different circuits, but both of them need a lot of commitment. Imola you get it a bit wrong, you’re in the gravel trap and the wall. Here there’s no gravel trap, it’s just the wall, so they’re both two pretty big commitment tracks, obviously here being a step above everywhere — maybe a bit more similar than people think.”

With Leclerc on the inside and a short distance to Turn 1, Piastri still believes he has a shot at taking the lead at the start, or through the pit stop phase to beat the Ferrari.

“The run to Turn 1 is always your best chance at any track,” he said. “Here, obviously, it’s a very short run. You can try something with [the strategy], because…unless there’s a massive pace difference — which I’m pretty sure there won’t be — then overtaking is impossible here. It’ll be won or lost in the pits probably, so [we’ll] make sure we have a good day.”

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Piastri’s teammate was still positive about starting from fourth despite missing out on the front row, as Norris highlighted an unusual issue that affected him early in the session.

“Oscar finished second, so he did a good job,” Norris said. “But he’s been doing a very good job all weekend, to be honest. I think I’m very happy, as a team we should be happy with a second and fourth at a street circuit and to be as close to Ferrari as we were. We knew they would be close to the favorites this weekend, so to split them and have Oscar there I think is a good sign.

“Of course I would love to have had P3, but it’s such a small margin, such a little bit of lap time here or there, although misjudging something by the smallest amount can cost you. I’m still happy I got more in rhythm come Q3.

“Q1 was a bit stressful because part of stickers from the barriers came off and got stuck under my car, which then cost me the tires and things like that. It was a bit of a mess, but [things happen] in F1 because it could have cost me my whole weekend. I was lucky to get through, otherwise I think it was a good day for us.”

Norris says F1 and the FIA did not listen to driver concerns about the advertising that was getting ripped off the barriers on regular occasions during the weekend.

“I had to pit to get it off,” he said. “It just shouldn’t happen in Formula 1. It’s a bit silly in my opinion; we said it would happen yesterday and they said they were going to fix it but obviously it wasn’t fixed. It’s a shame that you have to get lucky; I was lucky that I had enough time, otherwise it would have ruined my qualifying and my whole weekend.

“There is nothing I can do. It can only ruin your race at the minute. They need to come up with a better solution than just stickers because of course we are touching the wall and all this stuff, but it’s not acceptable that this can ruin your whole weekend, just for some stickers and things like that. They need to find a better solution.”

Piastri loses P2 at Imola for impeding Magnussen in qualifying

Oscar Piastri has lost his front-row starting position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for impeding Kevin Magnussen during qualifying. The McLaren driver originally qualified just 0.074s behind Max Verstappen in second place on the grid in Imola, …

Oscar Piastri has lost his front-row starting position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for impeding Kevin Magnussen during qualifying.

The McLaren driver originally qualified just 0.074s behind Max Verstappen in second place on the grid in Imola, with teammate Lando Norris third. However, Piastri was investigated for impeding Magnussen in Q1, with the Haas arriving at speed at the Tamburello chicane and complaining he was held up as he failed to advance.

The stewards investigated the incident after the session and deemed that Piastri deserved a three-place grid penalty, stating it was his team’s fault for not informing him of Magnussen approaching early enough.

“Piastri was exiting the pits and Magnussen was on his fast lap,” the decision read. “Piastri impeded Magnussen at the chicane at Turns 2 and 3.

“The Stewards accepted the explanation of Piastri that because of the layout of the circuit at that location, he could not see Magnussen until it was too late, at which time he tried to accelerate away in order to get clear of Magnussen as quickly as possible. Magnussen acknowledged that it was difficult for drivers to see cars behind in many portions of the track, including here.

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“However, the Stewards reviewed the team radio and Piastri’s team did not warn him of the much faster approaching car until Magnussen was too close for Piastri to do anything to safely avoid impeding. In fact there was an approximately 140kmh speed differential and Magnussen was only approximately 40-50m behind at the time and this meant that Piastri was in the middle of the chicane when Magnussen caught up directly behind Piastri. Further, it was clear that Magnussen was on a fast lap since his exit of Turn 19.

“The Stewards also reviewed where other drivers were warned of approaching cars and it was significantly earlier, and they were able to avoid impeding at Turn 2/3. Traffic management for slower cars is an extremely important part of the team/driver combination, particularly in Q1. In this instance the Stewards determine that the lack of sufficient warning caused an ‘unnecessary impeding.’”

The three-place grid drop means Piastri will now start from fifth place on Sunday, with Norris joining Verstappen on the front row, and the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz making up row two.

Piastri leads Norris as Alonso and Perez crash out of Imola FP3

Oscar Piastri topped final practice at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a frenetic final few minutes of the session owing to a late red flag caused by Sergio Perez. Perez was on a flying lap on fresh softs when he took too big a bite out of the …

Oscar Piastri topped final practice at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a frenetic final few minutes of the session owing to a late red flag caused by Sergio Perez.

Perez was on a flying lap on fresh softs when he took too big a bite out of the curb entering Variante Alta. His Red Bull car was launched into the air and landed awkwardly, with the momentum spitting him into the outside barrier, where he lost his front wing.

Red flags were called to recover the broken car with less than six minutes remaining, but quick work from the marshals enabled the session to resume with a couple of minutes still on the clock.

Piastri had set the time to beat of 1m 15.529s in his McLaren shortly before the interruption, albeit with no other driver having had the time to string together a lap in reply.

But the chaos of the resumption, with the entire field queuing to exit pit lane together, meant few drivers got a clear shot at top spot anyway, leaving the Australian 0.3s clear at the head of the table.

He headed McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the final order, the Briton one of those to navigate the traffic to set a competitive time, albeit well shy of his teammate.

The messy ending to the hour left the competitive order shrouded ahead of an intriguing qualifying session in which Max Verstappen’s perfect pole run is tipped to be challenged by both McLaren and Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz spent most of the session at the top of the order, but the late chaos dropped him to third and most than half a second off the pace. Teammate Charles Leclerc was 0.02s further back, while George Russell represented Mercedes in fifth.

Max Verstappen could do no better than sixth, 0.837s off the pace, for Red Bull. Though the Dutchman wasn’t able to complete a final flying lap, at no stage did the title leader look markedly more comfortable than he had on his uncomfortable Friday, his RB20 notably less compliant over the curbs.

Combining his best sector times would bring Verstappen to a still distant 0.456s of Piastri’s time, and his interrupted fastest lap looked likely to be good enough only to potentially challenge Norris for second at best.

Alex Albon was seventh for Williams ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and the sole surviving Aston Martin of Lance Stroll after teammate Fernando Alonso committed an uncharacteristic error at Rivazza during a long run on hard tires.

The veteran Spaniard carried too much speed from too wide an entry into Turn 18. His Aston Martin broke traction immediately on entry, spinning into the gravel and hitting the barrier backwards.

Though he reported he was okay, he was taken to the medical center for precautionary checks after the smash.

A five-minute red flag was called with 35 minutes on the clock, leaving the Silverstone team with a power of work to do to ready Alonso’s car for qualifying.

Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 for Haas ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, the crashed Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda.

Valtteri Bottas was 14th ahead of Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton – who never completed a single-lap performance run – the smashed Alonso, Pierre Gasly and Zhou Guanyu.

Sainz penalized post-race for Piastri clash in Miami

Carlos Sainz has been demoted to fifth place in the Miami Grand Prix for causing a collision with Oscar Piastri. The Ferrari driver was involved in a robust fight with Piastri for a number of laps as they battled over fourth place, with the stewards …

Carlos Sainz has been demoted to fifth place in the Miami Grand Prix for causing a collision with Oscar Piastri.

The Ferrari driver was involved in a robust fight with Piastri for a number of laps as they battled over fourth place, with the stewards opting to take no further action when the McLaren pushed Sainz wide defending at Turn 11. Sainz finally managed to get through into the Turn 17 hairpin but appeared to lose control of the rear and hit Piastri’s front left corner, with the stewards deeming the contact worthy of a penalty.

“It was clear to us that car No. 55 was to blame for the collision,” the stewards’ decision read. “In the overtake attempt, car No. 55 braked late, missed the apex and in the process lost the rear, with the resulting collision. Although car No. 81 was trying to turn in to counter the overtaking attempt, car No. 81 gave sufficient room to car No. 55.

“In the circumstances, we find car No. 55 to be predominantly to blame for the collision.

“In this case, we took into account, as mitigating factors, the fact that but for the slight loss of control of the rear by car No. 55, the collision would likely not have happened and it would have been hard but good racing. The standard penalty for a collision is 10s with two penalty points. In light of the mitigating circumstances, we therefore impose a 5s time penalty with one penalty point.”

The penalty drops Sainz behind Sergio Perez in the final classification, with Lewis Hamilton remaining sixth but just 0.1s behind Sainz after the time addition.

Hamilton fight highlighted McLaren weaknesses – Piastri

Oscar Piastri says his difficulty overtaking Lewis Hamilton in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix highlighted a number of weaknesses that McLaren is facing. The Australian was running a strong fourth after overtaking Fernando Alonso early in the race and …

Oscar Piastri says his difficulty overtaking Lewis Hamilton in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix highlighted a number of weaknesses that McLaren is facing.

The Australian was running a strong fourth after overtaking Fernando Alonso early in the race and appeared to be a threat to Charles Leclerc [lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]for the podium, but was then stuck behind Hamilton when the Mercedes driver didn’t pit under the safety car. Hamilton had the top speed to keep Piastri at bay until he finally made his own stop, showing up a lack of top speed for the McLaren.

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“I’m not sure fun is the word I would use,” Piastri said. “Frustrating, yes. I mean, I think it kind of just showed a couple of weaknesses of ours definitely. I was very relieved when he boxed out of the way but just didn’t quite have enough on the straights mainly to get past.

“I was hoping he was going to pit about 15 laps before he did, but I think he started to struggle on the tires because I was basically past him when he boxed. He had to pit at some stage, and that seemed like a good time to do it.”

Although McLaren moved ahead of Mercedes in the constructors’ standings in Jeddah, Piastri says the fact that he couldn’t overtake Hamilton shows how track position is key between the two teams.

“I think it’s very, very even. I think we have different strengths and weaknesses for sure. And I think qualifying made the difference (in Saudi Arabia). I think Lewis showed that if we qualify behind them, there was a good chance we were going to be stuck behind them for the whole night.

“So I think it’s very, very tight between us. And yeah, we need to do some work to try and jump them and catch the two teams ahead.”

The next round is Piastri’s home race in Melbourne, and he believes a repeat of his fourth place would constitute a strong result given the track characteristics at Albert Park.

“I think there’s a bit of a mix, a bit more low speed than. But we’ll see. Hopefully we can have a good race. If there’s one race of the year you can pick to have a good one it’s your home race. So we’ll try our best. But yeah, I think if we can finish around where we did (in Jeddah), that would be the most we can do.”

McLaren has two drivers capable of winning the championship – Brown

McLaren’s driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both capable of delivering a world championship as the team gets closer to the standards it needs, according to Zak Brown. Daniel Ricciardo was released one year before the end of his …

McLaren’s driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both capable of delivering a world championship as the team gets closer to the standards it needs, according to Zak Brown.

Daniel Ricciardo was released one year before the end of his contract after two tough years at McLaren, with rookie Piastri signed as his replacement after Alpine failed to secure his future. While Brown says he retains a good relationship with Ricciardo – who has since returned to a race seat with the team most recently known as AlphaTauri – he sees the drivers as the most recent area that has been proven to be clicking as McLaren moves closer to the front.

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“I’m very happy Daniel is back in Formula 1,” Brown said. “Daniel has always been great to work with, he’s always been a great friend. It was never a divorce that made anybody happy. So I’m very happy he’s on the grid. We still exchange notes on a somewhat regular basis, so I’m very happy that we’ve ended up maintaining a good relationship.

“And then of course very happy that Oscar has performed in the way he has, and we’ve got visibility to what our driver line-up looks like for the foreseeable future with a very experienced 24-year-old and an awesome rookie at 22.

“That’s a pretty awesome driver line-up as we look at what we need to get back to winning world championships, it starts with two drivers that are capable of winning the world championship. I think we’ve got that.”

Brown says the way other aspects are working so well highlight the potential within McLaren, with team principal Andrea Stella monitoring how close it is to being ready to fight of titles.

“I think we have the team. I think we now have the resources and the technology, and now we just need to continue to push forward and the culture.

“The pit stops are great. I think that illustrates how well the team is working together. So we’ve just got to kind of get that pit stop culture in every single part of the racing team. I think we’re there.

“Andrea has this kind of world championship material terminology that he uses, and this pie chart. It started at half green, quarter amber, quarter red. And the green is 75%, and the amber and the red is reduced, and I think we just need a little bit more time to get it to be all green.”

Norris ‘gutted’ after car ‘easily quick enough for pole’ takes P7

Lando Norris admits he is “gutted” to have only qualified seventh for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix despite feeling his McLaren was good enough for pole position. McLaren appeared to be a threat for pole throughout qualifying and Norris set the fastest …

Lando Norris admits he is “gutted” to have only qualified seventh for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix despite feeling his McLaren was good enough for pole position.

McLaren appeared to be a threat for pole throughout qualifying and Norris set the fastest time of Q2 to put himself firmly in the frame. However, with heavy rain approaching quickly in the final part of qualifying, Norris could only manage seventh on the grid and says it feels like a missed opportunity.

“It was great, honestly — the car was amazing,” Norris said. “Easily probably quick enough to be quickest today and on pole, so pretty gutted it had to end the way we did. I don’t know how to feel about it — I think the car was amazing, it came alive a lot in qualifying and easily good enough to be quickest I would say.

“Obviously delivering the lap and putting it all together in Q3 and everything is a different job, but easily quick enough. So disappointed, but not a lot we could have done.

“I look forward to tomorrow. I don’t know if it’s meant to be wet or dry tomorrow, but in the dry we should be quick enough. So, a shame.”

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Teammate Oscar Piastri was the penultimate car out on track and slid off at Juncao — the final braking zone — and says he found the conditions tricky as he ended up 10th on Sunday’s grid.

“Just lost a lot of grip,” Piastri said. “I don’t know if it was already raining but I was struggling a lot already on the lap — I think everyone was, based on how slow the laps were. I just went in as I thought I had the last lap and slid straight off. A shame — the pace in the car was looking good — but we’ll try again tomorrow.”

On his first visit to Interlagos, Piastri at least saw positives from the speed he displayed on Friday with just one practice session to get comfortable.

“I think it was going well. It’s a difficult track to get right and get it all together. But it’s been a good day in terms of pace, just obviously this weather has thrown a spanner in the works. I just need to look at what went wrong in Q3.”

McLaren the best of the chasing pack – Verstappen

Max Verstappen says McLaren’s driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is the best line-up of all the teams chasing Red Bull. McLaren has scored the most points of any team over the past three races, with its return of 104 points even …

Max Verstappen says McLaren’s driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is the best line-up of all the teams chasing Red Bull.

McLaren has scored the most points of any team over the past three races, with its return of 104 points even leading Red Bull’s next-best total of 74. Given the rate at which McLaren has been scoring, and with the team finishing second and third behind Verstappen in each of the past two races, the Dutchman says it makes Norris and Piastri his closest rivals.

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“I do think that as a team they are probably the most consistent, compared to the others behind us,” Verstappen said. “And I do think they have the best driver line-up out of all of them. So yeah, they are operating really well. And, yeah, it’s going to be interesting to the end of the year, but also I think the start of next year to see where everyone is at.”

Having closed the gap to Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship to just 11 points in rapid fashion, McLaren is now being asked about the 79-point deficit to Ferrari in third place and whether that can negated over the final five rounds of the season.

“It’s doable,” Norris said. “I think so. A couple of races ago it was, 70-something to Aston. I don’t know what it is now … I mean, Fernando (Alonso) said we were overconfident as well! I think we’re just doing a good job, not just in terms of pace but we had a 1.8 second pit stop which is pretty impressive from the guys.

“They’ve been working extremely hard so to reward the whole team consistently is only more motivating and a bigger boost every weekend. They like the taste of success. It’s the first time they’re getting it consistently and I think that only makes them want it more and more and more every weekend that we’re doing so the guys are doing a great job. I think we’re both doing a decent job too, so we’ll keep it up.

“We know that Mercedes are very quick, probably as almost as quick as us (in Qatar), just they keep making mistakes. So I’m sure if they have a clean weekend they will maybe make our life a bit more tricky and therefore I’m not as confident in saying it.

“But like I was comparing to Ferrari, it was only three weekends ago that Ferrari were on pole and almost winning races and nothing has really changed, it’s just a different track. We’re looking better, they’re looking a bit worse. I think we’re definitely not overconfident. We’re confident, I think we need to be, but we know there’s still going to be some races where we’re not going to be quite as strong.”

McLaren’s recent form has seen it pick up back-to-back double-podium finishes, but Piastri warns that’s not a trend that’s likely to continue.

“I think Suzuka and (Qatar) have probably been tracks we’ve been looking at for quite a while in terms of what’s going to favor us,” Piastri said. “I think there’s going to be some races that are going to be more difficult than (Qatar) and probably will suit other teams a bit better.

“I think 79 points in what, five races and a couple of Sprints? It’s a big challenge but yeah, we’ll give it a go. I think obviously the gap to Aston now is very achievable. But yeah, hopefully we can do it.”

McLaren ‘could push flat out the whole time’ in Qatar – Piastri

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 …

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.”

Piastri thrived in ‘pretty crazy sprint’ for first win in Qatar

Oscar Piastri admits there were stressful periods in the sprint as he took his first victory at the Qatar Grand Prix, thanking the timing of Safety Cars for helping him keep Max Verstappen at bay. Saturday’s earlier sprint shootout had seen Piastri …

Oscar Piastri admits there were stressful periods in the sprint as he took his first victory at the Qatar Grand Prix, thanking the timing of Safety Cars for helping him keep Max Verstappen at bay.

Saturday’s earlier sprint shootout had seen Piastri lead a McLaren one-two, but the pair — and Verstappen — were all attacked by drivers starting on soft tires while the top three all chose mediums. With George Russell taking the lead for a spell, Piastri said he feared the wrong tire choice had been made at one stage but then felt the race coming back towards him.

“Very happy. I like sprint Saturdays apparently!” Piastri said. “It’s been a really good day. Obviously started well in the sprint shootout, and a pretty crazy sprint this evening. I’m happy to come out on top, and also I think it was really exciting for everyone to watch as well with the soft guys at the start. I thought I was in a lot of trouble with how much pace they had, but they dropped off just as quickly, so very, very happy.

“I think at the start it was a bit difficult to judge with the safety car which wasn’t helping the medium tire at all because it would cool down way too much. It was when Carlos was behind me and tried to overtake, after that they dropped back very quickly and from one lap to the next George lost a lot of pace.

“That’s when I knew I was in a good rhythm. It was just how quickly Max was going to come through and how quickly Lando (Norris) was going to come through as well. It was stressful at times but glad we could see it out.”

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Piastri admitted he had already worked out Russell in the lead was not his biggest threat but was still fearing a fight back from Verstappen before a late interruption bought him some breathing space.

“It was just before the last safety car really,” he said. “That last safety car was pretty nice for me, I’ll be honest! I knew that I had to try and get as much of a gap while Max was behind George as quickly as I could, [and] I managed to get out enough, and then the pace at the end was also pretty good, too. I think it was about ten laps to go, or eight laps to go, at that point I thought it might be a tough ask at the end, so I’m thanking the safety car drivers today.”

After securing his first win, Piastri says there were good lessons for Sunday’s grand prix when he will try to fight through from sixth on the grid after losing a higher starting position due to track limits violations in qualifying.

“I think we learned a lot,” he said. “I think the soft at the start was obviously extremely strong and dropped off. Everyone’s tires stayed together so that was a bonus. It was more or less as we expected. The wind dropped a bit, and with so many safety cars it gave you a lot of restarts and different tire temperatures and stuff. Tomorrow is obviously going to be a very different kind of race, but a lot of interesting things to learn.”