Oscar Piastri is dissatisfied with his third-place finish in Imola. The pole-sitter is particularly disappointed that he didn’t brake later during the opening battle with Max Verstappen, but acknowledges that Red Bull was too strong this weekend. ‘Red Bull had the pace today,’ concludes the Australian, who nevertheless retains the championship lead.
Oscar Piastri started the Emilia-Romagna GP from pole position, but lost it in the first few meters due to a masterful overtaking move by Max Verstappen. The Australian tried to regain the lead through an undercut, but a shortened pit stop for Verstappen, thanks to the virtual safety car for Esteban Ocon‘s retirement, meant that the world champion remained out of sight. A second pit stop, a safety car, and a battle with teammate Lando Norris followed. The Australian eventually finished third.
“I just braked too early,” Piastri reflects on the moment in the opening phase where he ultimately lost the race. “It was a good move by Max. That was disappointing of course, but we still made a number of wrong decisions afterwards. It wasn’t our best Sunday. We certainly have things to look at, but well done to Max and Red Bull. They had the pace today.”
Challenging
In addition to ‘wrong decisions’, Piastri also had to deal with bad luck with the timing of the virtual safety car. Verstappen was able to benefit from the shortened pit stop. After the safety car in the final phase, the Australian also got into a battle with his teammate, and was eventually overtaken by Norris. “It was tough, I did my best to keep up with him. But it was only a matter of time before he passed me.” Verstappen’s victory in Emilia-Romagna narrows Piastri’s lead in the championship by ten points.
