Oscar Piastri lost a brilliant P2 in Imola qualifying to a grid penalty
Oscar Piastri admits that he knew the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP would be “pretty painful” after he lost his front row grid spot to a penalty.
The Australian qualified second but was then demoted to fifth for impeding Kevin Magnussen during qualifying.
While his team mate Lando Norris inherited second spot and was able to chase winner Max Verstappen to the flag Piastri had to settle for fourth place, having got ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the pit stops.
“There’s always going to be ifs and buts,” he said when asked by this writer about the missed opportunity. “Yes, I knew after qualifying that it was going to be pretty painful. And today definitely proved it.
“There’s a lot of positive things and encouragement to take from this weekend. I think as a team clearly we’re there. And I think personally, the last two weekends, I feel like I’ve been really strong as well. Miami felt like a really strong weekend, here has felt really strong.
“And I think that was the most we could have got out of the race. For me personally, I’m very happy, I feel like I’ve built a bit of good momentum in the last two weekends, which is something I’ve been trying to aim for a bit more.
“And I think as a team we’re proving in different tracks, different conditions, which are generally conditions that we’ve struggled in in the past, that we’re in the fight for wins.”
Piastri said he had good pace during the race. and that the grid position was the key factor in the outcome.
“Starting further back, I think that was the biggest thing today,” he said. “I think the pace was honestly really good. I think in the first stint we were strong, just stuck behind Carlos. And then the second stint, pushed very hard at the start to undercut him, and then also try and get [Charles] Leclerc.
“And I think just with the tyres, they just don’t like being pushed. I just struggled a bit after that. It looked like Charles had a very similar thing, when he caught the back of Lando and then dropped off. Honestly, I was pretty happy with my race. I don’t think there was much more I could have done.”
Imola was Piastri’s first weekend with the full upgrade package used by Norris in Miami,
“It doesn’t feel that much different, just faster,” he said. “It’s definitely making the car a bit nicer to drive. But I think whenever the car is quicker, it’s always a bit nicer to drive.
“But we’re definitely tackling some of the things that we were trying to. Our strengths and weaknesses seem to be a little bit different now. Our high-speed is not as strong as it once was.
“But our low-speed is a lot stronger than it has been. I think we understand the majority of why that is. So I think we can be pretty confident where we go now.”
Asked to elaborate on how the car felt better he said: “”It just sticks a bit more. And the balance is a little bit nicer. I think with these regs and these tyres, there’s only a certain amount of niceness that you’re going to have. I think if you ask everyone, they probably have a similar balance, just some areas are a bit more exacerbated than others.
“So I feel like we’re making improvements. And most importantly, we’re making the car faster. And when you make the car faster, especially in race trim, it just makes your life so much easier. So I think that’s a really encouraging sign.
“And we’ve come close over one lap in the past last year, but struggled a little bit more in the race, and this year we’re just as strong in the race, if not even stronger, which is really encouraging.”
Given the improved low-speed performance Piastri is upbeat about prospects for the Monaco GP.
“I think we can definitely be confident going there. Obviously Red Bull had a difficult start to the weekend. But, that’s two weekends in a row where they’ve looked not quite as strong as they once were, Miami and here. I think we’re definitely closing in, us and Ferrari are putting on the pressure.
“And I think as a team McLaren we can be very confident wherever we go. And I think Monaco will be hopefully a good weekend.”
Adam Cooper F1 