You never forget your first victory and this will be a day that Oscar Piastri will remember for a long time. Sure, his first triumph came in the sprint race of the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, but winning the first “real” race has a totally different flavor.
That childhood dream of arriving in Formula 1 and winning his first race in the top series came true with a race in which, however, there were some aspects that will be discussed in the coming days. Piastri built his victory at the start, immediately overtaking his teammate with a decisive move, after Lando Norris himself had not been the author of an exciting start from the first box. The British driver had immediately tried to close the road, but the Australian resisted well, then finding the space to complete the overtaking at the first braking point.
From that moment on, Piastri immediately imposed his pace, increasing the gap, also thanks to the exchange of positions between Norris himself and Max Verstappen behind him in the first laps. In the first stint, in fact, the Australian progressively increased his advantage until the first stop, when McLaren chose to call Lando Norris to the pits first to cover him from a possible undercut by Lewis Hamilton, who was called back very soon by Mercedes.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
This allowed Norris to not only emerge ahead of his compatriot, as planned, but also to close in on his teammate, gaining a second. In the second stint, Piastri had managed to extend his lead again to around 4.5 seconds, but with lapped traffic, that gap quickly closed to under two seconds, enough to get into DRS zone.
The decisive moment came at the third stop, when McLaren once again called Norris first, once again to get him out ahead of Hamilton, although in reality the British Mercedes driver was not a real threat. At that point, by stopping first, Norris effectively completed the undercut, reaching an advantage of over three seconds over his teammate, who stopped two laps later.
At McLaren, the orders were clear, telling Norris that he would have to give the position back to his teammate before the checkered flag, with an exchange that took place just a few laps from the end. An exchange that, however, required several discussions on the radio, because it was clear that Norris did not want to give up the first position, even using the tyre to significantly increase the advantage, which at a certain point reached over five seconds.
![](https://cdn.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0rGmJxO2/s1000/oscar-piastri-mclaren-mcl38.jpg)
It certainly won’t be a quiet day at McLaren, but in the meantime Piastri is enjoying his first Formula 1 victory: “It’s a very, very special day. This is the day I dreamed of as a child: to stand on the top step of an F1 podium. Yep. Obviously it was a bit complicated at the end, but no, I put myself in the right position at the beginning.”
“I want to thank the team for their commitment and the amazing car. Yes, it’s a lot of fun to race with McLaren, so I can’t thank them enough. They gave me the opportunity to be in F1 and, yes, to win together after 18 months is an incredible feeling,” Piastri said, before highlighting how this MCL38 is an extremely competitive car at the moment.
“Yes, this car is a beast at the moment. It’s fast in every condition, I think that was the case today. We had everything under control. And, yes, it was an incredible feeling to be able to manage the race like that with both cars and get a one-two. I’m incredibly happy for the whole team and I’m happy to have gotten my first win.”
![Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team](https://cdn.motorsport.com/images/mgl/2d19Jo7Y/s1000/1020304272-lat-20240721-gp2413.jpg)
Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar
Clearly, in the coming days there will be talk of McLaren’s decision to give the position back to Piastri, who was thus able to score his first victory.
The Australian had told the team over team radio that the longer it took to make the swap, the more tense the situation would be, also due to the risk of a Safety Car in the final laps. Speaking about the situation, Piastri said: “The more you let it go, obviously, the more nervous you get. But the team did the right thing. And yes, I think it was the right thing to do.”
“I put myself in the right position at the start. We had a different strategy, probably my pace wasn’t as fast as I would have liked in the last stint, but I was still in the right position to do it. So, yeah, the team worked well.”
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