F1 Monza, Piastri: “Stopped by Stroll, it seemed like his first time on karts”

by VALERIO BARRETTA

Piastri, a second place that hurts

A second place for Oscar Plateslike in Spa. And, like in Spa, the Australian found himself chasing those who were going to win, outwitting everyone with the one-stop strategy (with the difference that George Russell was disqualified in Belgium, Charles Leclerc will keep the victory in Monza).

If the 18 points of the Ardennes were all in all well received by the #81, those of the Italian GP are very bitter. Because Piastri, starting from second position, had passed his teammate Lando Norris on the outside of the Roggia and dominated the Grand Prix in terms of pace. Ferrari, however, thought of something different, stopping Leclerc and Sainz only once and forcing the Australian to a comeback that, even with a tyre 23 laps younger, would not have been at all easy. And in fact it slipped away by three seconds.

Piastri’s words

After the race, Piastri did not hide his bitterness, also because he felt he had been disadvantaged by the behaviour of some of his colleagues: “I thought it would be tough, but it would be possible. With the pace I had at the beginning, I think I was catching him at a pace of two seconds a lap gain. There was someone who didn’t help me much, Stroll for example drove as if he were at his first go-kart race.and that cost me a couple of seconds”.

“I don’t want to lie, it hurts a lot“, he admitted. “We did a lot of things well today. There were a lot of question marks about the strategy to adopt in the race, but in the position we were in and with those tyres, doing just one stop seemed like a very risky choice. In the end, however, it was the right move. I am very happy with the pace and the race I managed to do, but when you finish second it hurts.”.

“In hindsight it would have been better to stop once, but everyone is good after the checkered flag. Today, unfortunately, we made a mistake, and I made a mistake too. Charles could have tried something different, since he would have finished third anyway, and he chose the right gamble. Our tyres, on the other hand, were destroying themselves, my front left had a lot of graining.“.