Oscar Piastri has crossed the finish line of Italian GP in second place. The Australian driver did everything right in terms of driving. On the first lap he passed Norris and remained in the lead for most of the race. All this, was not enough to achieve the second success of his career.
An imperfect plate misses the victory in the Italian GP
Victory still slips away for Piastri and McLaren. This time, however, the contributory fault seems quite clear. Yet in terms of driving, the young Australian did almost everything right: aggressive overtaking on his teammate on the first lap and pulling away in the second stint against Norris, who instead had more difficulty with the range. Piastri, halfway through the race, found himself firmly in the lead of the race, launched towards an important second victory in his career. This was not the case, because in the championship 2024, where the opponents are often very close and cautious, every distraction and every imperfection can be fatal. Piastri, at least strategically, has shown that he is a driver who still has a lot to grow up to. In fact, when the team asked him on the radio whether to opt for a one-stop race, Piastri declined in favor of a more conservative strategy. Not a good reading of the race, a plan on which the young driver still has to improve.
As mentioned, however, Oscar Piastri's failure to win is a combination of blame. In addition to the driver, the team also made the mistake. The Orange, during the second pit stop, called Piastri too quickly, while they were in a position to wait for Ferrari's move. This was not to defend the position of the young Australian driver from Lando Norris, who had already entered the pits for the second stop shortly before. The decision by Andrea Stella's pit wall to bring Piastri in so abruptly, then inspired Ferrari in the one-pit stop strategy, allowing it to take the victory in its home GP.
Piastri on one-stop strategy: “Leclerc had nothing to lose”
Piastri, McLaren and Norris lost the race and the points, each with their share of blame. We will still have to start again despite the bitter disappointment, focusing on the good things the car has given and, naturally, also on those weak points that made the option for a one-stop race unsafe.I'm very annoyed. Because I did a lot of things right. There were a lot of question marks about the strategy at the start of the race, but from the position we were in and with the tyres looking so degraded. making just one stop was really risky. But in the end it was the right choice. I'm very happy with the pace and the race I managed to do. But when you come in second it hurts.".
When he talks about position, Piastri is referring to the fact that, compared to Ferrari, he and McLaren had much more to risk. In fact, the Australian driver was in fifth position, while Leclerc and Sainz were in third and fifth position respectively. The gamble that the two Ferrari drivers tried proved to be a winning one, but if it had failed they would have regained their old positions. It was a different story for Piastri, who unfortunately did not feel like risking so much. “In hindsight I would have tried. But everyone is a legend after the race on Monday. Today we did something wrong and I contributed to this mistakeWe had everything to lose being in the lead in the race, while Charles doesn't. If he had had problems he would have finished third. He took the right gamble. The mediums were easily destroyed and even the hards with the Red Bulls seemed dead. Then my front left had a lot of graining and we didn't expect it to clean up. It was very painful".
