Oscar Piastri secures a commendable fourth place in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, showcasing skill and strategy on the track.
Oscar Piastri finished fourth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, behind Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari but ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin. The McLaren F1 driver praised this result after a positive race for him, even though he was slightly frustrated by losing time behind Lewis Hamilton after the Safety Car.
“It was okay,” said the Australian. “I don’t think we could have done any better; it was 20 frustrating laps behind Lewis, and that was the best we could do because we didn’t have the pace of the cars in front of us, so I’m happy with that.”
“I think we lacked top speed, and we struggled in the last corner. Put two long straights and that corner in the middle, it was a bad time for us. We have things to work on, but it wasn’t a bad day.”
“It was a tough race. Last year in Qatar, the level for difficult races was set, but here it’s complicated. You have to stay focused all the time; I had no one around, but keeping the concentration is not easy, with the speed.”
He would have liked to chase the podium, but his MCL38 wasn’t fast enough to aim for a podium: “I got the chance to try to pass Charles, but it wasn’t enough. Fourth place is the best we could do, but we’ll continue to try to do better.”
Piastri is somewhat concerned about the Australian GP, his home race in two weeks: “I think we were advantaged here because it’s a track for us. Melbourne has more slow corners which are worse for us. We’ll see, it’s very tight with Mercedes, while Ferrari and Red Bull are ahead.”
Lando Norris was frustrated not to have been able to defend himself, as he tried an alternate strategy by staying out during the safety car: “We took a gamble by trying to stay on mediums when others went to hards. But it didn’t work out.”
“We could have stopped at the same time as the others, but we wanted to try something different. It could have worked, but that’s how it is. I’m happy, the performance was good. I think we missed some points, but we did what we could with the strategy.”
Asked about McLaren’s pace, the British driver, who finished in eighth place, acknowledges that there is work to be done for his team: “It’s like Aston, like Mercedes, and Ferrari and Red Bull are far ahead.”
Piastri Fourth Saudi GP. Piastri Fourth Saudi GP f1 2024
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