Oscar Piastri has slammed Lance Stroll for losing time behind the weaker Aston Martin team throughout the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Piastri was chasing Ferrari leader Charles Leclerc after his second pit stop, with the Monegasque attempting to increase tyre life with a one-stop strategy.
After losing around two seconds while attacking and overtaking Carlos Sainz, Piastri still had an eight-second deficit to make up on Leclerc when he found himself behind Stroll on lap 49 and lost further time to the leader, ending the race 2.6 seconds behind the road.
“I asked straight away what pace I needed to keep up with Charles,” Piastri said, reflecting on his final stage. “And the pace I needed was what I kept up for the primary few laps. And at that time I used to be pretty optimistic.
“You know, I lost a variety of time behind Carlos. Stroll was driving prefer it was his first kart race, and I don't know what went through his mind when he saw his blue flag. It cost me one other second.
“I needed this stage to be perfect to win this race. And you realize, those little things ultimately cost us just a little little bit of a likelihood. It would have been unlikely anyway, but it surely definitely wasn't removed from possible to attain it.
“I was pushing as hard as I could to do it. I couldn't go any faster. So, yeah, I just fell a little short.”
Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team
Photo: Sam Bagnall / Motorsports images
On-board footage shows that Stroll did indeed let Piastri pass when the blue flag was first waved, however the Canadian stayed on the surface into the Variante Ascari, so the McLaren driver was unable to take a perfect line and needed to brake on the within. It was Piastri's slowest lap after he passed Sainz, losing half a second in the ultimate sector.
The Australian still has few regrets – not even in the case of strategy. Although McLaren’s two-stop tactics didn’t repay, Piastri explained that simply slowing down wouldn’t have been enough to make the one-stop work.
“If the information I got on the radio is true, it wasn’t really about going slower,” he added. “I just stuck to the grain and got through it.
“Given the practice, when it happened, you basically couldn't press the brake pedal because you'd turned the front left into a 50-cent coin, it seemed like a very risky move. Of course, in retrospect, it was the right move, but everyone's a lot smarter by the time the checkered flag drops.”
