Piastri starts fast, fades late in Canada
Monday, 19 June 2023
Oscar Piastri ran inside the top six after a storming first stint in Montreal, but finished a frustrating 11th and just out of the points as McLaren's Canadian curse continued.
Oscar Piastri has frustratingly finished just outside of the points for a second time this year, the Australian coming home 11th in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal at what has become a bogey circuit for McLaren.
McLaren came to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for round eight of the season knowing it hadn't scored a single point in Canada since Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen finished fourth and ninth respectively in 2014, and that drought continued after Piastri finished one place outside of the points.
His teammate Lando Norris crossed the finish line after 70 laps in ninth place, but the British driver was assessed a five-second penalty for 'unsportsmanlike behaviour' earlier in the race when he slowed down excessively in a safety car period, demoting him to 13th overall.
Piastri started his maiden race in Montreal in eighth place after qualifying ninth, promoted a position after Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Pierre Gasly (Alpine) in qualifying. The Australian played his own role in a crazy half-wet, half-dry session to set the grid on Saturday, crashing and causing a red flag in Q3 after spinning and backing his MCL60 into the wall at Turn 7 as the rain pelted down.
"It's my first sort of major mistake – I had to get the first crash out of the way at some point," he said of his qualifying error.
In the race, Piastri jumped to seventh past teammate Norris on the opening lap, and overtook Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) on lap seven to advance to sixth place, equalling the highest he's run in a race all season.
He pitted from that position on lap 12 after George Russell (Mercedes) hit the wall and caused a safety car to clear the circuit of debris; Norris, slowing down on track to allow the team to double-stack their pit stops, fell foul of the stewards with the field neutralised.
Re-joining in 10th, Piastri was passed by Norris on lap 17 to fall outside of the points, but went back inside the top 10 after passing Magnussen's Haas on lap 24. He pitted for a second time from seventh on lap 37, but didn't spend a lap inside the top 10 from there, crossing the line in 12th and six-tenths of a second behind Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), which became 11th with Norris' post-race penalty.
Piastri said he "gave it my all" after spending 29 of the 70 laps inside the top 10.
"I think we had a strong qualifying, making good decisions at the right time – it's just a shame it ended like that," he said.
"The first stint was very good, some good moves and the pace generally felt very good … the next couple of stints I struggled a little bit and also I made a few mistakes here and there, so ultimately it cost us a spot in the points. We struggled a little bit with tyre life again, but a lot of learning from that race, good and bad.
"All in all, a shame to be so close to the points, but still learned a lot."
The result was the second time this year Piastri has finished as close to the points as possible without scoring, after he was 11th in Azerbaijan in round four.
With Alex Albon (Williams) earning Driver of the Day honours in Montreal after finishing seventh, Piastri falls to 14th place in the drivers' championship ahead of the next race in Austria in two weeks' time.
Oscar's Canadian Grand Prix by the numbers
- Qualified: 9th (started 8th after Sainz three-place penalty for impeding Gasly in Q1)
- Race: 11th
- Pit stops/tyres: Lap 12 (medium/hard), Lap 37 (hard/hard)
- Fastest lap: 1min 16.598secs (11th), lap 59
- Points this event: 0
- Points this season: 5 (14th in world championship)
