Oscar Piastri has insisted that his mindset won’t change despite capturing the lead in the Drivers’ Championship with his win in Formula 1‘s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Australian capitalised on pole-sitter Max Verstappen being penalised in Jeddah to make it consecutive victories to surpass his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.
Piastri executed a strong start to pull alongside Verstappen and he appeared to have gained the high ground on the inside as the two went wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1.
However, Verstappen released the brake to preserve more speed around the outside, culminating in him going wide and cutting across the track to maintain the place.
The stewards decided to give Verstappen a five-second time penalty, which granted Piastri the lead once the Red Bull driver served his punishment during his pit stop.
But while Red Bull debated that Verstappen was ahead at the apex and had earned the right to the corner as per the rules, Piastri believes that the verdict was correct.
“I got a great launch and, yeah, got myself alongside and from that point, knew that I obviously had to brake quite late,” Piastri told media including Motorsport Week.
“But I knew that I had enough of my car alongside to take the corner.
“We obviously both braked extremely late, but yeah, I think, for me, I braked as late as I could while staying on the track.
“Yeah, I think it was, you know, how it unfolded is how it should have been dealt with.”
Piastri admits Saudi win harder than expected
The pre-race consensus had been that Verstappen would be unable to repel Piastri’s advances once McLaren’s more prominent advantage in race trim shone through.
However, with clean air proving to be priceless, Verstappen utilised having track position to retain a comfortable advantage until the penalty consigned him to second.
“It wasn’t the easiest of wins,” Piastri admitted. “I think the start was tough.
“The first stint was tough behind Max. And then once I had some clean air, then it was a bit easier to manage.
“But I still couldn’t afford to take my foot off the gas. It was, yeah, a difficult race. And Max was quick behind me, so I had to keep pushing.
“And, yeah, I think I could control it reasonably well. But it was a little bit tighter than I would have liked.”
Piastri vows to preserve approach
Piastri’s win guaranteed that he would displace team-mate Norris, who recovered six spots to come home in fourth, as the driver with the most points going to Miami.
But despite becoming the first Australian since Mark Webber, now his manager, in 2010 to head the standings, Piastri is adamant his approach will remain unaffected.
Asked whether the newfound status would alter his attitude, Piastri responded: “No, I think I still want to go out and try and win every race I can.
“As I was saying before, I think I’m not that bothered by the fact that I’m leading the championship.
“But I’m proud of the work and the reasons behind why we’re leading the championship.
“I think obviously Melbourne wasn’t a great start to the year in terms of results, but from the moment I’ve hit the track this season, I felt like I’ve been in a good place and I think at the moment leading the championship is a result of all the hard work we’ve done in the off-season, the hard work I’ve done personally, the hard work the team’s done.
“So I’m more proud of all of those things than I am of the fact that I’m leading the championship because ultimately I want to be leading it after round 24 and not round five.”
READ MORE – Is Oscar Piastri forcing a changing of the guard at McLaren?
