Oscar Piastri says the risk of a one-stop strategy was far greater for him than for McLaren team-mate Lando Norris at the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Australian driver explained that it’s always “easier” to gamble when you’re chasing rather than defending the lead. Piastri was beaten by Norris, who recovered from a poor start to take victory with a bold strategic call.
While the championship leader pressured polesitter Charles Leclerc early on, he lacked the usual pace to overtake. So, he and the team tried an undercut to seize the lead, but it didn’t pay off.
“I think we had to try and do something to beat Leclerc, because it wasn’t obvious that we just had enough pace to blow past him and go and win that way,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“So we tried something. Was it the right thing in the end? I don’t know.”
Piastri acknowledged that a one-stop strategy was considered but remained cautious about executing it at the time.
“We did speak about it a bit before the race, so it wasn’t completely off the table,” he said. “In the race, I got asked about it. Very difficult to know from the cockpit what is going to be the best thing to do.
“Like I said, when you’re the car behind, your risk-reward ratio is always much different. There’s always that.
“Could we have matched Lando? That’s the question that I don’t have the answer to. I guess that’s the only thing.
“We wanted to try and win the race as well. The best way of trying to beat Lando is by trying to win the race as well.
“That was obviously an intention, but I think we’ll definitely analyse if there was something we could have done a bit differently.”
Piastri unfazed as championship battle tightens ahead of summer break
The 24-year-old added that the gamble was far easier for Norris, as the driver chasing the lead.
“But it’s always much easier when you’re the car behind to take that risk,” Piastri explained. “For Leclerc, there was virtually nothing to lose by trying a one-stop race. For myself, potentially there was.
“We’ll look back and see if there was anything we should have done differently, but a two-stop was always the plan before the race.
“It wasn’t even really discussed that much about doing a one-stop, so it was certainly a gamble.”
Despite seeing his championship lead shrink from 22 points after Canada to just nine heading into the summer break, Piastri remains unfazed by the narrowing gap.
“The biggest lead of the year has been 23; it’s not moved within 10 points for the last 10 races, almost,” he said.
“I’m not really that fussed with that. Obviously, it would have been nice to have the extra points, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a trend.
“One second different and the trend would have looked quite different today. Things happening in the last few races differently could have meant quite a different picture, but you can say that about pretty much every race this year and about every championship ever.
“I’m not concerned at all. I think the pace for the first half of the year has been very, very strong, and I think the last few races as well have been very good.
“I feel like I’ve driven a lot of strong races, and it’s been very, very tightly fought, so I expect more of the same after the break.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris resists Oscar Piastri to head McLaren 1-2 in F1 Hungarian GP
