Piastri reflects on “painful” defeat as championship gap closes

Oscar Piastri heads into the summer break with a bittersweet second-place finish in Budapest, missing out on victory by less than a second, shedding points to his teammate, and left to wonder what might’ve been after strategy outweighed pace.

Losing out to the surprise punch Charles Leclerc packed during the final moments of Qualifying, Piastri secured himself a P2 start for the 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Australian held position as the field got away, defending against his teammate, who was soon eaten up by George Russell and Fernando Alonso after his attempted move into the first turn backfired.

With Norris preoccupied with regaining position, Piastri was left trailing the pole sitter for the first 18 laps of the race before he committed to a two-stop strategy as he sought out an undercut on Leclerc.

Leclerc responded to the attempted undercut just 4.38km later, pushing the limits of the pit entry as he locked up on his 19-lap-old medium tyres — a necessary stretch which helped the Ferrari driver maintain a one-second edge over Piastri as he exited the pitlane.

The momentary roadblock of Car No.14 allowed the margin between the Ferrari and McLaren drivers to double over the next lap, forcing the Australian to settle into net second place on the road while Leclerc started to show signs of concern. 

It was at this point in the race that Norris decided to throw caution to the wind, committing to a one-stop strategy as his hopes of scoring a victory hung in the balance. 

Speaking with hindsight, Piastri reflected on his decision to stop twice during the race, admitting a one-stop “wasn’t completely off the table” prior to the five lights going out. 

“In the race, I got asked about it,” the #81 said. 

“Very difficult to know from the cockpit what is going to be the best thing to do. 

“Like I said, when you’re the car behind, your risk-reward ratio is always much different, so yeah, there’s always that. 

“Could we have matched Lando? That’s, I guess, the question that I don’t have the answer to. 

“So, I guess that’s the only thing, but we wanted to try and win the race as well, and the best way of trying to beat Lando is by trying to win the race as well. 

“That was obviously an intention, but I think we’ll definitely analyse if there was something we could have done a bit differently.”

At the halfway point of the race, Piastri stagnantly remained just two seconds shy of the leading Ferrari driver, resulting in the McLaren pit wall using some cheeky radio tactics to fake Leclerc into an early pitstop.

At the sight of the McLaren pit crew running out into the pitlane on Lap 40, Ferrari reacted and called Leclerc in for his second stop of the race, however, Piastri remained on track for a further five laps, rejoining behind the #16, who was now carrying a serious chassis-related issue that completely erased his competitiveness. 

Soon disposing of Leclerc at Turn 1, Piastri had less than 20 laps to catch and pass his teammate who was over eight seconds down the road.

With Norris approaching traffic paradise in the form of the three-way battle for the final points-paying position, Piastri was able to shrink the interval down to 2.6 seconds after 10 laps, however, he was also tasked with clearing the back-markers, meaning the fight for victory was delayed until the final five laps of the race.

“I was confident, but I knew it was going to be still incredibly tough because getting close to the car ahead is one thing, but trying to overtake is a completely different story,” the Australian said. 

“I knew that I was catching him a lot when I had clean air, but as soon as I got close, it was incredibly tough to stay close enough. 

“There are so many corners in the middle sector that in some cases it almost feels like you do a better job in some corners, and then you pay the price at the next one because you’re even closer. 

“That made it very tough, and then with such long corners to end the lap, it just kills any downforce you’ve got. 

“So, I knew that was going to be incredibly tough. 

“Even if I had more laps, I’m not sure the result would have been any different, but I certainly tried.”

Piastri had clawed his way into Norris’ DRS range and was using the extra 20km/h of speed to forge an attack on his teammate with five laps to go.

Just six-tenths separating the duo, prompting Piastri to have his first look at an overtake into Turn 1, however, his late-braking prowess wasn’t enough to dispose of his teammate on this occasion.

On the second last lap, Piastri tried once again, though he pushed too hard, almost colliding with Norris after charging down the inside of the first turn and locking up to avoid contact.

Carrying a pair of flat spots and a bruised ego after a public reminder about McLaren’s rules of engagement, Piastri was forced to settle in behind Car No.4 for the remainder of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Reflecting on the failed overtake, the Australian explained that the huge lock-up on Lap 69 didn’t impact his odds across the final lap “that much, I don’t think”. 

“I was able to close the gap again pretty quickly for the last lap, but it’s kind of like I said, getting to within six or seven tenths was doable, but to then get even closer than that, I think I needed brand new Softs to be able to do much from that point,” he added.

“So, yeah, it was always going to be tough when I got close. 

“But, I mean, you never want to not take an opportunity that you think is there in case another one never comes up.

“So, I had to go for it and, you know, in hindsight, obviously you can say maybe I should have waited another lap, but I’m pretty convinced that even if I had waited one more lap, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”

The 24-year-old crossed the finish line 0.698s behind his teammate, rounding out a four consecutive 1-2 finish for McLaren — an achievement only Senna and Prost had achieved with the team.

Speaking after the race, Piastri had mixed emotions on the fine margin that separated the teammates as the chequered flag waved in Budapest.

“You know, whenever you lose a race by such a little amount, it’s obviously a bit painful, but I mean, I’m sure it was entertaining from the outside — it was entertaining from the inside as well. 

“So, you know, pretty fun race, all things considered. 

“But, obviously, when you’re on the losing side of that battle, it’s a little bit difficult. 

“But, yeah, we tried our best, I think, and, you know, we got ahead of Charles. 

“I don’t know what happened to him in the last stint, but, yeah, some things to look back on, whether we should have done something a bit different in terms of strategy, but very easy to say in hindsight.”

With Norris taking home the full back of 25 points at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Piastri’s championship lead was reduced to just nine points after Sunday’s race, meaning the Australian now has a single-digit buffer to weigh on his shoulders as he tries to enjoy the three-week summer break.

Sitting on 284 points compared to Norris’ 275 points, Piastri remains unfazed by the closing margin, however, expecting the rest of the season to see points ebbing and flowing between the teammates.

“I mean, the biggest lead of the year has been 23, and it’s not moved within 10 points for the last ten races almost,” Piastri said.

“So, I’m not really that fussed with that. 

“Obviously, it would have been nice to have the extra points, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a trend. 

“One second different, and the trend would have looked quite different today. 

“Things happening in the last few races differently could have meant quite a different picture, but you can say that about pretty much every race this year and about every championship ever, so I’m not concerned at all. 

“I think the pace for the first half of the year has been very, very strong, and I think the last few races as well have been very good. 

“I feel like I’ve driven a lot of strong races, and it’s been very tightly fought. 

“So, I expect more of the same after the break.”

The mandatory summer break will run until Formula 1 picks back up at the end of the month, the Dutch Grand Prix taking place across August 29-31.

Image: McLaren

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