Oscar Piastri & Lance Stroll

Credits- IMAGO / NurPhoto

In the closing stages of the Italian GP, Oscar Piastri found himself chasing down Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The McLaren driver insisted that he would have been able to overtake Leclerc if he hadn’t run into Lance Stroll during his late charge up the field.

Piastri had the arguably faster car. However, a poor strategy by McLaren put him on the back foot, as he lost the race lead he had taken on lap one due to a Ferrari overcut. From that point, his only chance to win was to chase down Leclerc. Unfortunately, he struggled to lap Stroll after his second stop.

“I had Stroll driving like it was his first go-kart race,” Piastri said in a post-race interview. “I don’t know what went through his brain when he saw the blue flags.” 

During a race, when a driver sees a blue flag, they are obligated to let the car behind them pass. While these moves should generally proceed without issues, mistakes are not uncommon. On Sunday, Stroll’s failure to move aside properly, slowed Piastri down, costing him valuable seconds.

After overcoming the Stroll hurdle, Piastri faced Carlos Sainz, Leclerc’s teammate. The Spaniard, on much older tires, did his best to hold him off. However, he couldn’t do so for long, and the Melbourne-born driver managed to pass him with eight laps to go.

Piastri made his way up to P2 but fell just short of the win. Leclerc finished two seconds ahead, securing the Italian GP victory and his second win of the season.

Piastri was disappointed after the race, not only because of Stroll’s driving but also due to McLaren’s failed strategy.

McLaren’s bittersweet Monza podium

Starting the race from 1-2, anything less than a victory would have been gutting for McLaren. They had the pace they needed to win, and both drivers were on top form. However, opting for a two-stop strategy turned out to be disastrous.

The team lost valuable time in the pits, whereas Ferrari played its cards to perfection with a one-stop strategy. “…today unfortunately we got it a bit wrong, and myself being a big part of that,” Piastri stated.

The 23-year-old admitted that he was hurting and that a one-stop would have been risky for them, given how they approached the race weekend.

Leclerc, on the other hand, had little to lose. On his old hard tires, he held a 12-second lead with about 10 laps to go, so he was going all out for the win. Nonetheless, Piastri was pleased with the pace of his car and remained hopeful for better results after what he described as a painful finish to his weekend at Monza.