Oscar Piastri originally qualified third for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday. But the joy of a strong result was short-lived as the FIA deleted his lap for track limits.
That meant only the first run of Q3 counted for Piastri, who dropped to seventh. Having been one place behind Lando Norris, he now has George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton separating him from his teammate.
The Australian has been quick throughout the weekend in Austria. He’d already taken P3 in qualifying for the Sprint, again behind Max Verstappen and Norris.
In the race itself, he pulled off an opportunistic overtake on the Englishman as he battled Verstappen for the lead. He was then able to hold him off in the closing stages to finish second.
That matched his best result in any race this year (2nd in the Monaco Grand Prix). But as he looked to maintain his momentum, he strayed beyond the white lines on the exit of turn six.
Before the race, much of the talk was around the new gravel traps on the exits of turns nine and 10, designed to discourage drivers from running wide. Last year’s race was marked by a plethora of penalties as virtually the entire field racked up the violations.
Mark Webber and McLaren unconvinced by Oscar Piastri penalty at Austrian Grand Prix
Speaking on Sky Sports F1 after the session, presenter Natalie Pinkham noticed that the Piastri camp didn’t look ‘happy at all’ in the garage. Among them was Mark Webber, the former Red Bull driver and now Piastri’s manager.
They seemed to be ‘poring over the data’ as they prepared to state their case to the stewards. Journalist Chris Medland later reported that team principal Andrea Stella is challenging the decision.
Pinkham can understand why they’re so determined to get it overturned. Martin Brundle called it ‘cruel’ in commentary, and it could potentially deny Piastri a podium in the race.
“McLaren are going to fight this,” she said. “They’re not happy at all. As you can see, the McLaren team [are] poring over the data. They will make a good case for it. To tumble down the order from P3 to P7 is pretty significant.”
Piastri in ‘slightly underwhelming’ form for McLaren
Piastri came to the Red Bull Ring desperate to bounce back from a bitterly disappointing race in Barcelona. While Norris challenged Verstappen for victory, Piastri could only finish seventh – his poorest result since the Miami Grand Prix.
It’s worth noting that that race was ruined by a collision with Sainz too, with the Spaniard subsequently penalised. His qualifying position in Spain (P9) was his worst of the entire campaign.
F1TV pundit Jolyon Palmer regards Piastri as an ‘outstanding talent’ but ‘hates to say’ that he’s been ‘slightly underwhelming’ of late. After beating Norris in the sprint, he’s still 65 points behind him in the championship.
He has the disadvantage of less experience, having competed in just 32 Grands Prix to Norris’ 114. But given that he’s been dubbed a future world champion by Alan Jones, he’ll be expected to close the gap sooner rather than later.
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