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Despite his teammate’s win at the Dutch GP, Oscar Piastri ended up off the podium.
At first glance, the Dutch Grand Prix was a positive weekend for McLaren. The British team had a pace advantage over the grid the entire weekend, and Lando Norris took the win by an impressive 22.8 seconds. However, on the other side of the garage, Piastri admitted it was a ‘painful afternoon’.
Oscar Piastri started in third place, and there was hope for a McLaren one-two finish at the Dutch Grand Prix considering their strong showing throughout the weekend.
Unfortunately, that hope quickly fell away as the lights went out. In the opening laps both McLaren drivers lost ground, with Piastri losing a vital place to the Mercedes of George Russell.Piastri admitted to F1 TV that the start was an issue for the team: “Obviously, the start was pretty poor for both of us, and there’s something to review there for us as a team. Then I couldn’t really make the progress that I needed.”
Although Norris was able to minimise the damage from the start, regaining the position, Piastri struggled. His poor start meant he spent the first stint in the dirty air of George Russell, stating: “From that point onwards, it was a pretty painful afternoon”. The McLaren driver was also forced to push his tyres more than he would’ve wanted due to Leclerc behind.
Further problems arose during the pit stops. Ferrari went first into the pits, hoping to pull off the undercut. McLaren opted to extend Piastri’s stint by nine laps. Their hope was that the Australian would gain an advantage in the closing stages due to the difference in tyres.
Strategy mistake?
McLaren faced criticism after the Dutch GP for keeping Oscar Piastri out for so long after Leclerc and Russell both pitted. However, Piastri defended the decision:
“I think once we got undercut by Leclerc, our only option was to go long. I think it worked well on Russell, but by the time I got back to Leclerc, it was a bit too late.”
He was able to close the gap to just over a second, but overtaking just wasn’t possible. He had to settle for fourth place and crossed the line, a staggering 27.337 seconds off his teammate. Piastri admitted the weekend was a ‘shame’ but recognised there were issues that needed to be looked at and fixed before Monza.
It was disappointing for the team not to achieve a double podium with how strong they had been. However, importantly, the two McLaren drivers outscored Red Bull again. The result reduced the constructors championship gap to just 30 points.