Piastri penalized for track limits: “It’s incredibly frustrating for me” | FP

From 3rd to 7th

A few hours after the podium achieved in the Sprint Race of the Austrian Grand Prix, however Oscar Piastri there was a great opportunity to repeat himself among the top three in qualifying too. An objective that the Australian from McLaren had actually achieved, only to then be relegated to the fourth row, and more precisely to seventh position, for not having respected the track limits in turn 6. All this despite the recent operation at the Red Bull Ring with the introduction of gravel on the outside of the corners that would have hindered the drivers in case of failure to respect the same track limits.

Not enough gravel

A penalty that #81 did not accept, as he actually reiterated to the microphones of Sky Sports: “Obviously it’s annoying, It’s incredibly frustrating for me – He admitted – they worked hard to get rid of the track limits, they moved the white line and somehow left enough space between the white line and the gravel. I stayed on the track, if I had gone on the gravel it would have ruined my lap and I would have risked the accident, but it’s very frustrating right now. I should have stayed inside the white lines, but once you get to the gravel in that corner I think we were all happy because we no longer had to worry about staying in the white lines and we could push to the limit because eventually we ended up in the gravel, and eventually I got screwed“.

Shocked by Verstappen

Limited to comments on tomorrow’s race, in this case too Piastri does not want to give up on the chances of being able to recover by challenging Ferrari and Mercedes, even if Verstappen’s performance in qualifying impressed the 23-year-old from Melbourne: “We can make our way, but it will be hard – he added speaking to the media – I think Max is one step ahead of everyone. I would say it’s very tight between us, Mercedes and Ferrari, but the pace was good in the sprint, and tomorrow there will be more strategy. So yes, there are more opportunities. Hopefully we can capitalize on some of them and make some steps towards the front. I have to say I’m a little shocked by Max’s time – he concluded – his lap in Q2 was a bit of a reality check for everyone, and of course he managed to do it again in Q3. The gap seemed to be a little bigger in that session, for some reason.”