Oscar Piastri delivered a good performance at the Singapore Grand Prix, moving from P5 to P3, and securing another podium finish for McLaren. After a challenging start to the weekend, Piastri was satisfied with the result, describing it as a strong example of damage limitation.
Reflecting on his race, Piastri explained, “Yeah, I think so. Yeah, you know, yesterday obviously wasn’t ideal, but today the aim was to get onto the podium.”
“And I think losing so much time behind the Mercedes in the first stint meant that that was definitely the most we could have done. So walking away reasonably happy. Of course, I’d prefer to be sat in the middle. But I think it was a good damage limitation day today.”
The Australian driver, who admitted he struggled throughout practice, felt he made progress as the weekend unfolded.
“Even through the weekend, I was struggling quite a lot in practice and felt like I made a good step into qualifying.”
“Didn’t execute as well as I needed to, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot through the weekend as well. So even if the end result wasn’t exactly what I hoped, I think we’ve done a good job of maximising the points, especially for the team.”
“It’s a massive points haul for us, and I feel like I’ve learned some good lessons for next year as well. All in all, reasonably happy.”
A key part of Piastri’s race strategy was managing his tyres during a long stint on the medium compound, which saw him pit on lap 39.
Speaking about how challenging it was to keep the tyres working, Piastri said, “It was difficult for the last few laps of the stint, but until then I could tell that we had a good pace advantage over Mercedes.
“And Lewis starting on the soft meant that I was never really going to try and push to get him early on. I knew that the race was going to come to me much later on, and that’s basically what we did.”
Although his battle against the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell was tough, Piastri remained patient and executed his plan.
Running long gave him a huge tyre delta and offset on the Mercedes drivers, and he passed them.
“When I was in the dirty air behind them, it was tough, as it always is, but I knew that we had a good pace advantage and that the longer we kept going, the more opportunities we opened up for ourselves, the bigger tyre difference we had.
“If there was a Safety Car then we could have capitalised on it. So I think we executed it very well. The last few laps, it was trying to… yeah, get the team to pit me, but it was all, you know, pretty much under control.”
Interestingly, this year’s Singapore Grand Prix marked the first time the race had been run without a Safety Car, adding to the physical toll on the drivers. Piastri remarked on the challenge, explaining, “It was a tough race, definitely.
“Not on the same level as what we had in Qatar last year, I would say, but to be honest, it almost gets harder when it gets lonely. Once I got past the Mercedes, Max was, I think, 20 seconds ahead, and I knew I was a lot quicker than the Mercedes, so the last 15 laps felt longer than the first 45.
“In some ways, having the air blowing in your face and stuff like that is almost quite nice. You know, the in-lap was actually probably… You know, when you stop concentrating so much, and you don’t have as much air in your face, it actually can feel worse. So definitely a tough evening, but that’s what we’re paid for.”
With McLaren showing consistent improvements throughout the season, Piastri was asked about the team’s ambitions in the Constructors’ Championship. While he recognised the team’s upward trajectory, he was also cautious.
“Clearly in the Constructors’, the trajectory has been in the right direction for a long time now. We’ve got clearly a quick car underneath us. We’ve got both of us scoring big points consistently.
“So yeah, I feel like we’re doing a good job as a whole team, but you can never take it for granted how quickly things can turn around, so we’ll see.”
Regarding the new fourth DRS zone added to the Singapore circuit, Piastri’s feedback was mixed. He downplayed its significance, saying, “It didn’t change the world, to be honest. Both of my overtakes were into Turn 7.
“I think that part of the track where the new DRS zone is very slippery, so actually trying to stay close to someone is very tough. And the straight is still not long enough really to make big inroads, so I think it didn’t make that much of a difference to be honest.”
