Oscar Piastri said he took more chances than usual in the Austrian Grand Prix as he was still fuming over the track limits penalty which cost him third on the grid.
The McLaren driver started yesterday’s race from seventh place after McLaren’s effort to overturn the penalty was dismissed.
“I was pretty upset yesterday that there are so many corners, we’ve made changes on the track here to get rid of the track limits issue, but this one corner, for some reason, we moved the white line, but not enough,” Piastri admitted.
“At the end of the day, I went slightly outside and that’s the mistake on me, or that’s what it was. But after seeing the evidence on what I got my lap deleted for coming from a [helicopter] cam that was only on me, in pretty questionable resolution, that stung quite a lot.”
He said he took more risks when passing other drivers as he tried to make up the lost ground.
“I had a bit of fire in me going into the race,” he said. “I think some of my overtakes probably came from a bit further back than they would have otherwise.”
He was especially satisfied with his last move, which saw him sweep around the outside of Carlos Sainz Jnr at turn six for second place.
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“Turn six was a happy hunting ground this weekend,” said Piastri. “I think I did three moves there around the outside.
“Very close on the way into turn four and then just had a bit more grip around the outside of six and managed to get it done. So I’m pretty happy with that.”
The start of his race was compromised as he was forced wide by Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc at the first corner.
“I didn’t get the best of starts,” he explained, “but I saw a bit of an opening on the outside and then went nice and late on the brakes.
“I couldn’t really see where Checo went on the inside, but I didn’t think he was really that far up alongside Charles, but obviously all three of us kind of met at the apex.
“It was quite fortunate for myself – I think there was a little bit of damage, but I don’t think anything major. I had a bit more contact with Checo again a bit later in the lap.”
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After spending the first stint stuck in traffic, Piastri began to gain ground after his first tyre stop, though he fell short of catching race-winner George Russell by 1.9 seconds.
“In the first stint didn’t make quite as much progress as I would have liked. Obviously I had a bit of an incident in turn one and then just overheated the tyres a little bit. With the dirty air, it was so hard to get within a second so I didn’t make much progress there.
“But then the next two stints, it really started to come alive. Went a bit longer on both the pit stops. It just kind of felt like we needed some more laps towards the end, unfortunately. But after starting seventh, obviously a good turnaround.”
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2024 Austrian Grand Prix
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