Piastri Trails Behind Mercedes' Russell and Hamilton

Piastri narrowly missed outflanking Mercedes’ Russell and Hamilton, trailing by just tenths.

Oscar Piastri secured third place at the Belgian Grand Prix, with the McLaren F1 driver narrowly trailing the Mercedes duo. Nevertheless, he noted that his best phase of the race occurred in clean air, and he expressed regret for not adopting George Russell’s aggressive approach.

“There was a significant difference today; when I was in clean air, I gained a lot of pace and managed the tyres well, whereas George demonstrated the need to keep pushing!” Piastri remarked. “I’m very pleased with this result; we managed the race well, and I don’t think we could have done any better.”

“I think we just lacked a bit of pace; it took some time to catch up with Charles. But George’s pace on a single set of hard tyres shows that was the right strategy. I think we did well, but it wasn’t quite enough.”

Despite a minor error on his part during a pit stop, he remains optimistic about this being McLaren’s tenth consecutive podium: “I’m positive. It’s been several good weeks for me and for the team. I think everyone is looking forward to the summer break, but we’ve had some great weeks and we’ll try to come back stronger.”