Piastri endures “toughest” outing to finish P8 in Brazil

Ranking the wet and wild São Paulo Grand Prix “amongst the toughest” races of his career, Oscar Piastri faced a day filled with challenges as he battled the relentless conditions and his McLaren’s limitations to finish P8 in Brazil.

Falling short of his expectations in the closing stages of Qualifying, the early morning session left Piastri starting the reduced 69-lap race from P8 on the grid.

Inheriting a position from Alex Albon’s misfortune and fighting with Fernando Alonso across the opening lap, the Australian held his own as he braved the harsh weather conditions in São Paulo.

From that moment onwards, Piastri found himself staring at the gearbox of the #30 RB driver for the majority of the race, sitting within five-tenths of Liam Lawson by Lap 7.

On the following lap, however, he was forced to switch to a momentarily defensive mindset, with the charging Red Bull rapidly approaching.

Piastri didn’t put up too much of a fight, accepting the inevitable when Max Verstappen lunged down the inside of the first corner to split the McLaren-RB battle. 

“I didn’t really have enough pace at the beginning, but he (Max Verstappen) seemed to be pretty much the only one who could overtake,” Piastri explained.

“We were struggling with the brakes all day. 

“We had a bit of a problem in qualifying and that was the same in the race, so that certainly wasn’t helping things. 

“One benefit for Max going out so early in qualifying was that he had a bunch of new inters which probably helped a little bit, but I think he was just fast today. 

“The cards didn’t fall his way in qualifying with the red flag – they certainly did in the race – so I think he was just quick and had a good race.”

The Australian quickly caught the Kiwi driver once again, spending almost fifteen laps within striking distance before impatience caused the duo to make contact at the first turn.

Ambitiously diving down the inside of Turn 1, Piastri tagged Lawson’s rear wheel as he leaned towards the apex, sending the RB driver, who was unable to see in his mirrors due to excessive spray, spinning across the circuit.

The incident caused Lawson to lose two positions, and as a result, the stewards later sanctioned Piastri with a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.

“I was stuck behind [Lawson] for a long time,” the #81 said. 

“I didn’t really get far enough alongside. 

“I spoke to him about it and he said that he didn’t see me either, which in those conditions is fair enough. 

“It was clearly my mistake and the penalty was deserved, it’s just a tough day.”

Taking advantage of the Virtual Safety Car, Piastri pitted on Lap 27, however, after rejoining the circuit, the Australian admitted that his pace had significantly dropped off when he failed to stick by Charles Leclerc at the first restart.

“We were in a tough position in that where we were right at pit entry, so it seemed smart to box and put new tyres on,” he said.

“I don’t think we expected it to rain as much as it did and then, honestly, the toughest part of the race was behind the Safety Car, trying to stay on the track. 

“I think it kind of exposed a bit of the issue we have with the wet tyre when everyone is begging for a red flag but refusing to go onto the wet tyre because it’s so bad. 

“A pretty dangerous situation to have cars literally struggling to stay on the track behind the safety car but it’s not really anything new. 

“Hopefully, we can try to at least change it now.”

At the second restart following a brief Safety Car period for Carlos Sainz’s Turn 8 crash, Piastri spent three laps running as the lead McLaren because of Lando Norris’ poorly-timed error through the first sequence of corners.

He enjoyed his time in P6, however, on Lap 46, instructions from the McLaren pit wall requested the Australian to swap positions with his teammate and just as he did during the Sprint, Piastri obliged.

With Yuki Tsunoda the driver in his mirrors, the late pressure from the RB driver as well as his determination to keep up with his teammate forced Piastri into a mistake at Turn 12, with the Australian losing time across the grass.

The moment brought Tsunoda within striking distance, however, Piastri defended the on-track position through to the chequered flag.

He crossed the line in P7, but after his 10-second penalty had been applied, he was demoted one place to score four points on a rainy day out.

“It was just a tough day from start to end,” Piastri said.

“Qualifying, partly a mistake, partly a bit of a problem – when you put the two together, it creates a big problem, and we were still struggling with that a bit in the race, but I think we were just slow.”

The eighth-place finisher added: “Top speed didn’t seem great but I don’t think that was our biggest problem.” 

“We were obviously gaining in the corners with the downforce that we had but clearly not enough. 

“I think we need to understand it a bit better, because the first half of the race, we looked really quick and in the second half, both cars seemed to struggle a lot more. 

“We need to understand why.”

Including a well-deserved rest after an intense run of back-to-back races, Piastri and his team will have three weeks to do just that, with the Las Vegas Grand Prix running across November 21-23 (November 22-24, AEST).

Image: Steven Tee / LAT Images

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