Oscar Piastri was in an excellent starting position after the Dutch GP in his hunt for his first world title. The World Cup leader won the race at Zandvoort, and saw teammate Lando Norris retire. The difference between the two therefore increased to 34 points, while Max Verstappen had to make up 104 points.
However, Piastri then suffered a significant setback, as the Australian only finished on the podium three times in the remaining nine races. Norris ultimately won the world title, while Verstappen also passed Piastri in the battle for the championship. Martin Brundle looks back on Piastri’s year.
“In many races it was Oscar’s turn to be the undisputed class of the field with sensational wins in China, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Miami, Spain, Belgium and, tellingly, his last of the season nine races ago in the Netherlands in August,” Brundle said at Sky F1, after which he goes into perhaps the most controversial action at McLaren.
“In Monza he was asked to give back a place to Lando after the pit stops. For me it was a very clear decision by the team. They asked Lando to give up his priority at the pit stops, because he was the leading McLaren, to Oscar, to help his teammate defend himself against the oncoming Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, with the promise that there would be no undercut.”
Brundle: ‘If Oscar hung his head because of it…’
The former F1 driver continues: “Lando played the team game and said yes, even though it was against his own interests, and so it happened. Piastri got the first pit stop in 1.9 seconds and, somehow inevitably, Norris’s lasted a whopping 5.9 seconds, which did create an undercut and put Piastri in front.”
“The team corrected that again on the track. Of course, a slow pit stop is part of every season, but this took place under specific circumstances. In any case, Piastri was now back within Norris’s DRS and was told that he was free to race, so it was still a net gain. Norris drove away nicely, because he was the fastest combination of car and driver on that day,” said the Briton.
“If Oscar hung his head because of that, he shouldn’t have let that happen. At the next race he had a nightmare with two trips into the wall and a false start in Baku. He wouldn’t be on the GP podium again until Qatar; a race weekend in which he stood head and shoulders above the rest, but ultimately only finished second because the team opted not to pit during the safety car on lap 7.” Finally, Brundle has an explanation as to why Piastri was not doing so well.
“Two factors caused this bad phase for Oscar: firstly the generally accepted fact that he is not yet using his full potential on asphalt with little grip, but also that Max Verstappen and Red Bull were in excellent form and won six of the last nine races.”
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