Piastri opens up on ‘painful’ race in Monza

Oscar Piastri was left disappointed after missing out on a potential second Grand Prix victory to the one-stopping Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, insisting that McLaren could have won with the benefit of hindsight.

The Australian pulled off a bold early overtake on his team mate and pole-sitter Lando Norris to take a decisive lead in Monza for the vast majority of the race, and he looked like he was on course for a straightforward win.

However, Piastri and the team opted for a two-stop strategy, pitting him on Lap 39 to bolt on fresh tyres. The move promoted Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to the top positions, ultimately allowing the Monegasque to conserve his older tyres and go on to take victory.

The McLaren driver was able to push for the remaining laps and he got the better of Sainz, who was also passed by Norris in the latter stages of the race, but Piastri crossed the line over two seconds adrift of Leclerc.

MONZA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 01: Race winner Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Ferrari, with Second placed Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren and Third placed Lando Norris of GB and McLaren. (Photo by James Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — Despite their double podium finish, the McLaren duo were disappointed by the result

Speaking about having to accept finishing P2, the 23-year-old said: “I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot. We did a lot of things right today. There was a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race.

“From the position we were in with the tyres looking like they did, doing a one-stop seemed like a very risky call, but in the end it was right. Very, very happy with the pace, with the race that I managed to achieve, just when you finish second it hurts.”

RACE START: Watch the getaway in Monza as Piastri snatches the lead from pole-sitter Norris

He went on to admit that McLaren “had everything to lose from being in the lead of the race” as the papaya drivers leave Monza with 34 points between them, cutting the gap to Red Bull in the constructors’ down to just eight points.

A one-two finish would have seen the Woking outfit jump to the top of the standings, but Ferrari’s brave call to keep Leclerc on his ageing tyres payed off as Piastri conceded that McLaren should have followed suit to defend their race lead.

MONZA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 01: Race winner Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Ferrari celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — Leclerc has won both his and Ferrari's home races this season

Asked whether he should have attempted the one-stop strategy, he said: “In hindsight yes, but everyone’s a legend on Monday after the race or the chequered flag. Today, unfortunately we got it a bit wrong, myself being a big part of that.

“Charles [Leclerc] could try something a bit different as he was going to finish third either way and picked the right gamble today. The mediums were getting destroyed and even the hards on the Red Bull at the start looked pretty dead. My front left was pretty heavily grained, just we didn’t expect it to clear back up again, which it did.

“I thought [catching Leclerc] would be tough but I thought it would be possible," he added in a later media session. "With the pace I had at the start, I think I was catching him at two seconds a lap.

"Had a few people that weren’t very helpful – Stroll was driving like he was in his first go-kart race, so that cost a couple of seconds. Just a bit painful, but I think we pretty much needed everything to go right on that last set of hards and it just ultimately wasn’t quite enough.”