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In a rare moment of showing an emotion, Oscar Piastri admitted that losing the win to Lando Norris after a long chase in the F1 Hungarian GP was painful. The Australian is often known as one of the drivers in the sport who tends to keep his emotions to himself and doesn't often give much away when it comes to that, and hence, when he talked about the loss being a bit painful for him, it did come as a surprise.
The F1 Hungarian GP was an intense affair, as it featured a somewhat unpredictable battle for the win between Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. The race began with the Ferrari driver on pole in a car that was arguably slower than the McLaren duo.
Piastri was maintaining a safe distance behind Leclerc early in the race but triggered a one-stopper as he tried to undercut the Ferrari driver and gain an advantage. While the Australian would commit to a two-stopper with the Monegasque driver, his teammate would go long into his first stint with the aim of going for a one-stopper.
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Once Oscar Piastri stopped for a second time, he had a 12-lap delta in terms of tire life as he tried to chase down Lando Norris. In the end, the driver got up to the back of the McLaren driver, but in F1, as is often the case, catching a car is one thing, but passing is another.
The two drivers would cross the chequered flag separated by less than a second, with Norris ahead of Piastri. Talking about the loss soon after, the Australian said that even though it was a fun race overall, the loss was a bit painful. He said (via PlanetF1),
“You know, whenever you lose a race by such a little amount, it’s obviously a bit painful, but I mean, I’m sure it was entertaining from the outside. It was entertaining from the inside as well. So, you know, pretty fun race, all things considered."
He added,
“But, obviously, when you’re on the losing side of that battle, it’s a little bit difficult. But, yeah, we tried our best, I think, and, you know, we got ahead of Charles. I don’t know what happened to him in the last stint, but, yeah, some things to look back on, whether we should have done something a bit different in terms of strategy, but very easy to say in hindsight.”
Oscar Piastri knew overtaking Lando Norris was going to be tough
When the Australian was chasing down Lando Norris, he was eating into the gap at a rapid rate. As soon as he got the jump on Charles Leclerc's hobbling Ferrari, there were moments where he was more than a second faster.
The driver did, however, reveal that he was skeptical of making the overtake work because it is tough to do in F1. He said (via the aforementioned source),
“I was confident, but I knew it was going to be still incredibly tough because getting close to the car ahead is one thing, but trying to overtake is a completely different story."
He added,
“I knew that I was catching him a lot when I had clean air, but as soon as I got close, it was incredibly tough to stay close enough. There are so many corners in the middle sector that in some cases it almost feels like you do a better job in some corners, and then you pay the price at the next one because you’re even closer."
Heading into the summer break, the gap between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is now cut down to just nine points. It would be interesting to see how the two drivers engage in the second half of the season.
