Oscar Piastri has admitted Max Verstappen caught him by surprise at the start of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

A bold move on the brakes into the Tamburello chicane saw Verstappen seize the lead from Piastri in a move that proved critical to the final race result.

Oscar Piastri wasn’t expecting bold Max Verstappen pass

Piastri had jumped well from pole position and headed the pack on the run towards the Tamburello chicane.

As he positioned himself in middle of the track to defend his position, Verstappen remained on the racing line where he was late on the brakes.

It saw the Red Bull driver pull alongside the leading McLaren, where he hung on around the outside of the left-hander before taking the inside line at the right which immediately followed.

With Piastri wrong-footed as a result, Verstappen seized the lead in what was a race-defining moment.

“I thought I had it pretty under control,” Piastri said of the early exchange.

“It was a good move from Max, so [I’ll] learn for next time.

“At that point, I wasn’t overly concerned to not be in the lead.

“But then our pace just wasn’t as strong as I expected, so that compounded that first corner.

“I definitely would have done something different,” he added when asked if he’d approach the corner different knowing Verstappen was poised to attack.

“I would have braked 10 metres later, probably. That’s all. Live and learn.”

Having started alongside Piastri on the front row, Verstappen initially found himself battling to retain second as the field raced towards the opening chicane.

Mercedes’ George Russell had drawn alongside, taking the inside line into Tamburello to hold the four-time world champion wide.

“The initial start wasn’t that amazing,” Verstappen confessed.

“Then Turn 2 luckily worked out quite well for me and so I was of course happen to be in the lead.”

He added that, as he braked into the opening chicane, he hadn’t planned to attack Piastri.

“I was quite far back,” he reasoned.

“At the time, before braking, I was basically in P3, but of course, I was on the normal racing line.

“I still had to come from far and, as soon as I braked late and then come off the brakes, I felt like, ‘okay, there might be a move on’.

“So I just carried the speed in and luckily it was sticking.

“It’s never easy, it’s not an easy move to make, but luckily everything went well.”

Race-defining moment for Max Verstappen as safety cars hurt Oscar Piastri

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Ahead and in clear air, Verstappen built and maintained a comfortable margin over Piastri before the Australian pitted on Lap 13.

A Virtual Safety Car then afforded Verstappen and Lando Norris cheap pit stops as Piastri dropped into the pack where he lost time moving beyond the likes of Yuki Tsunoda.

The Australian recovered to a net third following his second stop after which a Safety Car again handed Verstappen and Norris a strategic free pass.

On 17-laps old tyres at the final Safety Car restart, and with Norris behind him on fresh boots, the Australian fell victim to his McLaren teammate on Lap 58 of 63 to finish third.

It left the championship leader disappointed that he didn’t come away with more from F1’s first European event of the season.

“It’s never a great day when you start first and finish third,” he admitted.

“Turn 1 was not idea. I think in the end, our stop timing wasn’t… I think the race panned out different to how we expected in that first stint.

“Honestly, given people had fresher tyres at the end, handing on to a podium is not a bad result.

“And you’re going to have tough days in the championship, and this is clearly one of them.

“As long as we learn the lessons, that’s all I can ask.”

Piastri remains atop the Drivers’ Championship though his lead over Norris has been reduced to 13 points.

Verstappen sits third, 22 points off the top of the standings after his second win of the campaign.

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