Oscar Piastri believes his qualifying result cost him victory at the Belgian Grand Prix after recovering from fifth on the grid to eventually be classified second.
George Russell originally led home a Mercedes 1-2 ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but Russell was later disqualified for having an underweight car, with excessive tire wear on a one-stop strategy understood to be a potential factor. Speaking before Russell’s penalty was announced and having crossed the line 1.1s behind the winner in third, Piastri says it was a good recovery from a tough qualifying spot.
“I’m pretty happy on the whole,” Piastri said. “I think it was a really well executed race. Clearly the one-stop was a possibility and I think there’s a lot of people out there kicking themselves that they didn’t consider it more.
“But no, I think we executed a great race, had a quick car and ultimately just didn’t put it in the right position in qualifying yesterday. I think, given where we started, very happy. Ultimately I think there was a bit more potential this weekend.
“It did cross my mind , but not seriously enough. I was amazed at how much difference the dirty air made today. I think when Lewis and Charles pitted for the second stop, I think I went like 1s faster just because I had clean air.
“That was impressive, but then it felt like it kind of degged a little bit again after that point. With 16 laps, I think it was, or 15 laps around Spa, it felt like a pretty big risk to try and go to the end.