Piastri makes ‘fun’ vow after ‘painful’ Norris defeat
Oscar Piastri has conceded he was not at Lando Norris’ “level” during the Dutch Grand Prix.
Norris converted pole position into a second victory of the season in Zandvoort, whilst Piastri had to settle for a disappointing fourth.
The Australian driver started the race from third on the grid after being five-tenths of a second slower than Norris in qualifying, before finishing just over 27 seconds behind his team-mate in the race.
Piastri lost a position on the opening lap following a bad start and failed to reclaim third later in the race despite having strong pace in clean air.
The 23-year-old accepted his finishing position made his Dutch GP look disappointing, however, he is encouraged by the performance of Norris and the car.
“Clearly, the car is very quick,” Piastri told select media including RacingNews365. “And I think even for myself in clean air, I felt pretty strong.
“Ultimately, I don’t think I was quite at Lando’s level. So there are definitely some things to work on there.
“But I think being stuck behind traffic made my race and my weekend look a bit more painful than it was in terms of pace.
“So it’s a good thing that the car is that quick. I just need to make sure that I’m joining in on the fun.”
Ferrari surprise
Piastri did briefly regain third from George Russell during his first stint but lost the position again after being undercut by Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari’s pace came as a surprise to Piastri, who initially had Leclerc behind him during the first stint.
Leclerc’s speed was better than McLaren expected, with Piastri unable to find a way past the Monégasque despite being quicker.
“Yes, I was, I think even in the first stint, it wasn’t straightforward to keep Leclerc behind,” Piastri added, when asked if Ferrari’s pace was surprising.
“And then in the second stint, he was a bit stronger than I expected still. So yeah, a little bit surprising. Races like this happen with these cars.
“It seems, even for ourselves, there’s been a few races like that, and some races where it could be the opposite as well, where you have a really strong Saturday and then Sunday is just not [quite there].”
