Piastri lauds McLaren’s aggressive strategy amidst tough start to F1 career: ‘Always fun going through the field instead of backwards’
- Piastri praises McLaren’s ambitious strategy
- Aussie started in 17th and finished in 11th
- Piastri says race was a ‘fun afternoon’
Aussie rookie Oscar Piastri was pleased with his ‘fun’ drive and the aggressive strategy from McLaren that saw him progress from 17th to 11th in the second Sprint of the year.
Piastri had to start the race in 17th after being impeded by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the opening segment of the qualifying session at the Austrian Grand Prix. .
As the track dried out over the course of the 24-lap Austrian race, McLaren made the bold gamble to switch from the starting intermediate tyres to a set of softs.
Piastri was just the second driver to pit after Mercedes decided to also take a similar gamble with George Russell.
The Aussie was soon on the move, and after passing Yuki Tsunoda found himself in 14th position.
Oscar Piastri was pleased with his ‘fun’ drive and the aggressive strategy from McLaren
Piastri had to start the race in 17th after being impeded by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc
Over the final three laps, Piastri really showed off his skills and set the fastest time of the race at the time – and closed in on Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon.
He then delivered a tricky double-whammy pass on the pair, and finished the race in 11th position.
‘It’s always fun going through the field instead of backwards,’ said Piastri afterwards.
‘From where we started, we had to try something if we wanted to try and challenge the points. It was a good call.
‘George was ambitious to go first but as soon as it looked sensible, and he was keeping it (the car) on the track and the pace was similar, we wanted to be aggressive as well.
‘The timing of our pitstop was very good. We got the tyres up to temperature quite well, and when we’re on slicks, when the track conditions are like that, we seem to be very quick.
‘It was quite satisfying passing a few people. Getting past Leclerc and Albon in two corners was definitely the highlight.
‘Yeah, it was a fun afternoon. It’s a shame it wasn’t for anything apart from some fun, but that’s half the battle sometimes.’
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