Oscar Piastri doesn’t think his 34-point lead over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris after the Dutch Grand Prix is “comfortable” in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship battle.
Piastri drove a commanding race from pole position to clinch his ninth career F1 Grand Prix win at Zandvoort on Sunday.
On the flip side, the Australian’s team-mate, Norris, was on the receiving end of a mechanical failure on his MCL39, leading to a DNF.
“It was a really good race,” Piastri told media including Motorsport Week.
“I felt like I was in control the whole time. Obviously, the restarts were always tough moments to get right, but I felt in control.
“Obviously, the ending was unfortunate for Lando and the team to not have a 1-2 and I think we really deserved it.
“From my side, I’m very proud of the week we put together.”
Piastri had been lagging behind his team-mate, by the finest of margins, throughout the weekend.
However, the Australian’s first Q3 run saw him clock a lap time that was enough to secure him pole position over Norris by just 0.012 seconds.
From there onwards, the 24-year-old seemed in complete control and romped to the chequered flag to take the win.
“I think qualifying was the key this weekend and through the three practice sessions it was looking like a difficult Zandvoort again, but we chipped away, tried to find time to tweak the car here and there, but just tried to really improve how I was driving because the car was… It was pretty hard to complain about the car we’ve got,” he explained.
The 72-lap race was a chaotic affair with multiple DNFs, incidents, and three Safety Car periods.
Yet, Piastri was able to retain his lead and construct a path towards a firm advantage in the championship battle.
“It wasn’t the best start I’ve ever had and had to cover the inside,” he reflected on the start and the subsequent Safety Car restarts.
“Obviously, Max [Verstappen] was on Softs and was keeping an eye on him and, yeah, kind of defended as best I could and then went through Turn 2 into Turn 3 and saw Max very sideways in my mirrors and I was just hoping that he wouldn’t run into the side of me, but it worked out fine and yeah, from then on I could bring the tyres in and control.
“I mean, the first one worked very well, but then the next two you don’t have many options left.
“I think the longer you leave and especially once you get on to the pit straight, everyone knows you’re going to go sooner or later.
“So I was just trying to change it up as much as I could. It didn’t work that well on the last two, but it was just enough, so yeah, that was probably the hardest part.”
Piastri cautiously optimistic about maiden title chances
Norris’ retirement means that heading into the final nine races of the season, Piastri leads the Briton by a margin of 34 points.
That said, when asked if this gives him some breathing space and takes off the pressure, he was adamant that that was not the case.
“No, I don’t think so,” he asserted. “There’s still a long way to go. I need to keep pushing and trying to win races still.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a very comfortable margin. As we saw today, you can change with one DNF very, very quickly, so yeah.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri wins chaotic F1 Dutch GP as Lando Norris and both Ferraris retire
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