The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix might have been the first sign of weakness in McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s armoury.
Oscar Piastri drove beautifully on Saturday to earn the third pole position of his Formula 1 career.
He pipped championship rival Max Verstappen on his final run in Q3, with McLaren teammate Lando Norris having to settle for fourth.
Piastri had the advantage over Norris during qualifying once again, and it’s one of the reasons why he was 16 points clear in the drivers’ championship.
However, Piastri’s race start ultimately cost him and McLaren victory.
He got a better launch than Verstappen and had George Russell right on his tail.
Piastri looked certain to navigate the first chicane in the lead of the race, but as he stuck to the inside of the corner, Verstappen pulled off an almighty move around the outside to take the lead.
F1 fans were amazed by Verstappen’s move on Piastri, and what followed left former F1 driver and pundit Karun Chandhok very perplexed.
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Karun Chandhok left seriously confused by Oscar Piastri’s strategy call at Imola
The opening laps of the race appeared to highlight an issue with the medium tyres being a compound that could realistically be used throughout the Grand Prix.
After losing out to Verstappen and falling a couple of seconds behind, the Australian gambled and switched onto the hard tyres, although this immediately put him in traffic.
Verstappen and Norris were able to cope with the initial graining and commenting on the situation on X, Chandhok explained,
Chandhok, “The Piastri strategy is confusing….
“He was 2 seconds behind Max and despite 12 laps on newer tyres, because of being in all the traffic, he’s going to end up 4 seconds behind when Max pits.”
Norris pitted moments before the virtual safety car was brought out after Esteban Ocon broke down, handing Verstappen an even bigger advantage when he was able to change his tyres for free.
Piastri was among the drivers who made their second change at this time, and Chandhok continued, “The two-stopper for Oscar hasn’t worked at all…. Going to end up losing second to Lando too.”
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Max Verstappen showed his class on Red Bull’s 400th Grand Prix start
No driver has secured more victories for Red Bull during their Formula 1 history than Verstappen.
He currently sits on the same number of world championships as Sebastian Vettel, but has been far more dominant than the iconic German.
Red Bull couldn’t have asked for a better performance from Verstappen during this landmark event, even if Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s mechanical failure brought out a prolonged safety car that closed up the pack.
Verstappen has identified problems with Red Bull’s latest update package but would have seen a marked improvement from the start of the season.
McLaren didn’t quite nail their strategy which might be a hangover from their issues last season.
However, they’ll know they need to get their ducks in a line soon with Verstappen breathing down their necks once again.
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