Oscar Piastri denied that a late lock-up whilst battling Lando Norris for the lead of the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix is what cost him the victory.
The Australian, sticking to his two-stop strategy, caught his team-mate, who had switched to a one-stop, late on at the Hungaroring.
As per McLaren’s policy of allowing drivers to race but without risk, Piastri tried to make a move on Norris stick as the laps ticked down.
On the 69th and penultimate lap, Piastri looked to dive down the inside of Norris at Turn 1, but had to slam on the brakes as Norris turned in, just avoiding a collision.
Norris held on to secure McLaren’s 200th Grand Prix win and close the deficit in the Drivers’ Championship to Piastri down to just nine points.
When asked after the race if he felt the lock-up contributed to his unsuccessful battle, Piastri believed it made little difference.
“Not that much, I don’t think,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I was able to close the gap again pretty quickly for the last lap, but it’s kind of like I said, getting to within six or seven tenths was doable, but to then get even closer than that, I think I needed brand new Softs on to be able to do much from that point.
“It was always going to be tough when I got close, but you never want to not take an opportunity that you think is there, in case another one never comes up. So I had to go for it.
“In hindsight, you can say maybe I should have waited another lap, but I’m pretty convinced that even if I had waited one more lap, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”
Piastri insists more laps wouldn’t have changed outcome
Piastri was not only up against a resistant Norris, who defended himself well to hold on to the lead, but also the circuit, which provides few overtaking opportunities.
The Australian was optimistic of being able to get past Norris but acknowledged his chances were not as high as he would have liked, given he was stuck in dirty air.
“I was confident, but I knew it was going to be still incredibly tough, because getting close to the car ahead is one thing, but trying to overtake is a completely different story,” he said.
“I knew that I was catching him a lot when I had clean air. But as soon as I got close, it was incredibly tough to stay close enough.
“There’s so many corners in the middle sector, that in some cases it almost feels like you do a better job in some corners, and then you pay the price at the next one because you’re even closer.”
Piastri admitted that this “made it very tough,” adding that the long corners at the end of the circuit “kills any downforce you’ve got”.
“I knew that was going to be incredibly tough, even if I had more laps, I’m not sure the result would have been any different, but I certainly tried,” he concluded.
READ MORE – Why Lando Norris doubted F1 Hungarian GP race-winning strategy would work
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