Oscar Piastri has admitted that the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix provided him with some “good lessons” as he branded his third place a “damage limitation” result.
Piastri could not replicate the pace that inspired him to win in Azerbaijan the weekend before as he lagged behind McLaren team-mate Lando Norris across the event.
The Australian was made to rue a mistake in the last sector on his last qualifying run as he wound up fifth on the grid as Norris sauntered to a dominant pole position.
READ MORE: Oscar Piastri rues ‘terrible’ Q3 execution costing him Singapore F1 pole shot
That provided the Briton with the base to go on and post a crushing 20-second win over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, while Piastri overcame the Mercedes cars to third.
Piastri managed to capitalise on extending his opening stint to utilise newer tyres to dispatch Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to take his seventh podium of 2024.
Asked whether the third step on the rostrum was the maximum he could have achieved, Piastri, who was 20 seconds behind Verstappen, responded: “Yeah, I think so.
“Yeah, you know, yesterday obviously wasn’t ideal, but today the aim was to get onto the podium.
“I think losing so much time behind the Mercedes in the first stint meant that that was definitely the most we could have done.
“So walking away reasonably happy. Of course, I’d prefer to be sat in the middle. But I think it was a good damage limitation day today.
“Even through the weekend, I was struggling quite a lot in practice and felt like I made a good step into qualifying.
“Didn’t execute as well as I needed to, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot through the weekend as well.
“So even if the end result wasn’t exactly what I hoped, I think we’ve done a good job of maximising the points, especially for the team.
“It’s a massive points haul for us, and I feel like I’ve learned some good lessons for next year as well. All in all, reasonably happy.”
Piastri bided his time in Singapore
Piastri managed to avoid losing a spot to Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas on the opening lap and then ran in his grid position as the usual Singapore procession commenced.
The McLaren driver has conceded that he was aware right from the outset that he would need to be patient and wait for the race to come to him in the closing stages.
“It was difficult for the last few laps of the stint, but until then I could tell that we had a good pace advantage over Mercedes,” he explained.
“Lewis starting on the Soft meant that I was never really going to try and push to get him early on.
“I knew that the race was going to come to me much later on, and that’s basically what we did.
“So, yeah, when I was in the dirty air behind them, it was tough, as it always is.
“But I knew that we had a good pace advantage and that the longer we kept going the more opportunities we opened up for ourselves the bigger tyre difference we had.
“If there was a Safety Car then we could have capitalised on it. So I think we executed it very well.
“The last few laps, it was trying to yeah get the team to pit me but It was all you know, pretty much under control.”
Piastri reveals closing-lap troubles
Piastri has revealed that the race became a more gruelling affair during the latter exchanges once he acknowledged that third place was the best that he could obtain.
“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,” he said.
“So yeah, it was a tough race, definitely. It always is here. But in some ways having the air blowing in your face and stuff like that is almost quite nice.
“You know, the in-lap was actually probably… You know, when you stop concentrating so much and you don’t have as much air in your face, it actually can feel worse.
“So definitely a tough evening, but that’s what we’re paid for.”
Discussion about this post