By Alan Baldwin
DOHA, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Oscar Piastri said it hurt more to finish second for McLaren in Qatar on Sunday than to be disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix a week earlier.
The Australian had qualified on pole position for Sunday’s night race at Lusail, after winning the Saturday sprint, but a team strategy blunder cost him a win and knocked him from second to third in the Formula One championship.
McLaren decided not to pit their drivers when the safety car offered the chance of a cheap stop on lap seven, leaving them at odds with all the others bar one who took advantage in a fast race where two stops were mandatory.
That left Red Bull’s four-times champion Verstappen right behind them but with a stop in the bag while McLaren still had two to make. He went on to win.
“We didn’t get it right with the strategy. The pace was very strong. I didn’t put a foot wrong. Just a shame,” said Piastri.
Over the team radio, he had confessed to being simply speechless.
With one race to come in Abu Dhabi next weekend, Piastri is 16 points adrift of championship-leading teammate Lando Norris, who started on the front row and finished fourth on Sunday.
Verstappen is now second and 12 points off the lead.
“I think on a personal level, I feel like I’ve lost a win today,” Piastri told reporters.
“You know, in Vegas, I lost a P4. Obviously for the team it was a pretty painful weekend. But yeah, I think for me personally this probably hurts more.”
“It’s certainly not a catastrophe,” added the Australian. “I think we made a wrong decision today. I think that’s clear. But it’s not like the world ended. Obviously it hurts at the moment but with time things will get better.”
Piastri has won seven races this year, and was 34 points clear of Norris before the results tailed off dramatically with his last win at Zandvoort at the end of August.
He was at least back on the podium on Sunday for the first time in seven races and was the man to beat all weekend.
“I feel like you always become stronger through some of these moments,” said the Australian, who can still become his country’s first champion since Alan Jones in 1980.
“But it all depends on how you deal with it. So I’m sure we’ll get through it. But yeah, obviously at the moment it does hurt.”
(Reporting by Alan BaldwinEditing by Toby Davis)
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