Piastri on Russell in the middle of the track: It was terrifying

The last thing a driver wants to see at the pit exit is another car blocking the way. That was what Oscar Piastri encountered on Sunday, breathing a huge sigh of relief after managing to squeeze past George Russell’s spun car. Piastri admitted it had been a worrying moment.

The results may not suggest it, but Oscar finally had a reasonably good Sunday. In terms of race pace, he was able to keep up with Lando Norris. Running in clear air during the second stint, he matched last year’s champion’s lap times.

“Yeah, honestly, it feels like the day went pretty well, but I was hoping it would be a little bit higher. So, no, still things to work on, but I think the pace, once I got up to speed after the first few laps, honestly, I think the pace was very strong,” said Oscar Piastri, reflecting on Sunday’s race.

He spent his second stint on soft tyres in fifth place ahead of George Russell, whom he had passed at the pit exit. “Scary. Obviously, he was stuck in the middle of the road, so it didn’t make things easy at all, but yeah, glad I could avoid it.”

Russell moved back ahead of Piastri towards the end of the race. He saved himself a pit stop by switching straight to intermediates, while most of his rivals, including the McLaren drivers, had fitted fresh softs a few laps earlier.

What pleases Piastri most is that he was finally no longer off Norris’s pace. “So that’s a big positive. It’s been a while since I’ve been genuinely able to say that. So just a few more things to iron out and get on top of, and yeah, just keep working and we’ll get there.”

“Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing is just this weekend was qualifying, how we could have done a better job there,” he said, targeting another weakness to address. “So, yeah, just need to polish up a few things and start a bit higher up, and then hopefully we’ll be in the mix.”