Having only started 5th in Singapore, Oscar Piastri even saw Nico Hülkenberg pass him during the first lap…
The McLaren F1 driver, capitalising on the formidable pace of his single-seater, still managed to get back on the podium, a week after his victory in Baku.
Starting 5th, 3rd place was surely the best possible result for Oscar Piastri, as Max Verstappen seemed untouchable ahead of him.
“Yes, I think it was the most we could hope for. In qualifying, obviously, it wasn’t ideal, but the goal was to get on the podium.”
“Losing so much time to the Mercedes in the first stint meant that was effectively the best we could do. So I come away reasonably happy. Of course I would have preferred to have won, but I think it was a good day to limit the damage. Even throughout the weekend I struggled in free practice, and I felt I made a good step forward in qualifying.”
Based on Lando Norris’ performance, Oscar Piastri still underperformed this weekend in Singapore… he probably should have finished 2nd with better qualifying. This could be costly at the end of the year for Norris…
“I didn’t execute everything as well as I needed to, but I think I learned a lot this weekend. So even though the end result wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, we did a good job of maximizing the points, especially for the team. It’s a big points gain for us, and I feel like I learned some good lessons for next year as well. Ultimately, I’m reasonably happy.”
Piastri also had to extend his first stint on mediums until lap 39, in order to run in the open air at the end of the stint, and allow his McLaren F1 to deploy its true pace. A tire management challenge that he also managed to overcome, a sign of his progress.
“The last few laps of the stint were difficult, but up until that point I could tell we had a good pace advantage over Mercedes. Lewis was on the softs, so that meant I wasn’t going to try to catch him early on. I knew the race was going to come to me later on, and that’s what happened. When I was in the dirty air behind them it was difficult, as always, but I knew the further we went the more opportunities we were going to create with the difference in tyres.”
“If a safety car had come out we could have taken advantage of it. I think we executed the strategy well. The last few laps I was trying to convince the team to bring me in, but everything was under control.”
A new DRS zone, the 4th, was introduced for the Singapore Grand Prix, supposedly to facilitate overtaking. But Piastri did not seem convinced of its effectiveness…
“Honestly, it hasn’t changed much. The two overtakes I’ve made have been in Turn 7. The area where the new DRS zone has been placed is very slippery, so staying close to a car is quite tricky. And the straight is still not long enough to really make a difference. I think it hasn’t made a big difference, to be honest.”
A physically demanding race without a safety car
The Singapore Grand Prix was the first in history, since 2008, to end without a safety car being deployed. This made the physical challenge of the race even tougher for the drivers, who were unable to breathe at any point…
“It was a tough race, no doubt” confirms Oscar Piastri.
“Not as intense as we had in Qatar last year, I would say, but it’s almost harder when the race becomes lonely. Once I got past the Mercedes, Max was 20 seconds ahead, and I knew I was a lot quicker than the Mercedes, so the last 15 laps felt longer than the first 45. But yeah, it was a tough race, as always here. But in a way, having air blowing in your face is almost nice. The pit lap was actually probably… You know, when you stop concentrating so much and you don’t have as much air in your face, it can even feel worse. So, it was a tough night, but that’s what you get paid for.”
McLaren F1 has doubled its lead over Red Bull in the constructors’ standings in just one race: is the teams’ title already wrapped up for Woking?
“Clearly in the constructors’ championship the trajectory has been in the right direction for quite a while now. We’ve clearly got a fast car. We’re both scoring big points on a regular basis. So yeah, I think we’re doing a good job as a team, but you can never take for granted how quickly things can change, so we’ll see.” concludes Oscar Piastri.
