This defeat hurts – more than it shows. Especially because Oscar Piatri did nothing wrong. The Australian and his side of the garage at McLaren were simply tricked from the Norris side. The resentment is still limited. Piatri confirms that he will help the team to put him on a two -stop strategy. After all, he was also for it himself.
Piatri commented on “Sky” sober that Norris turned into a single-sop strategy through a cleverly staged radio maneuver and thus introduced the ninth career victory: “It was a manageable risk for Lando. He didn’t have much to lose after the first round. It looked very different for me.”
After the first round it was clear that McLaren Piatri would award the boxing priority because the Australian was in front of Norris in the initial phase. As in Spa, this meant that the Piatri page was able to overwrite a proposed pit stop from Norris, which it did. This time, however, on the basis of a fake radio message from Norris, which only indicated a pit stop.
Piatri is still fair: “It is always easy to say whether that was the right decision. But we wanted to win and to beat Leclerc, we had to try something. Sure, maybe it was not optimal. But I don’t blame anyone.”
Traffic, not the strategy the problem
“Before the race, we thought that two stops were the best, and it would probably have been if we had had free travel. But so it was one -stop with free trip around two stops with traffic. This is a completely different story. In retrospect, it is easy to say that one could have made it better, but a second could have made the difference here.”
In fact, the Undercut attempt against Charles Leclerc was the moment as a result of the Norris radio saying that Piatris sealed strategy. “We didn’t feel that we could just drive past him. So we wanted to try a strategic trick,” explains Piatri.
The undercut effect was not strong enough after 18 laps. Leclerc parried with a stop in the next, whereupon Piatri is another stint. It was unfortunate that it was not enough in the end, but not a drama: “It was still a good race.”
Piatri overtook Leclerc on the track at the beginning of the last stint, but was no longer able to intercept Norris in the final sprint. “I have no idea what was going on at Charles in the end,” says Piatri. “But overall it was a very fun race, even if it would of course have been nicer to win it.”
The one-time strategy at Norris was only decided during the race. Piatri confirms: “She was not completely off the table, but we didn’t seriously catch her eye. And if you sit in the cockpit during the race, it is very difficult to assess whether this is a realistic option.”
Piatri leaves open whether you should have acted differently with a view to the World Cup: “Of course we look at it all again. But basically I feel good how I am currently implementing the races.”
The fact that the distance in the driver’s ranking on Norris has now shrunk to nine points does not get it upset: “It will be a tight duel until the end. But I think we are doing a lot right at the moment. I will just try to continue just as before.”