Qatar Grand Prix sprint winner Oscar Piastri felt that the event’s multiple safety cars were instrumental in keeping Max Verstappen at bay in the closing stages of a “stressful race”.
From pole position, Piastri held his own at the head of the field while McLaren teammate Lando Norris was overhauled by the soft-shod Mercedes of George Russell and both Ferraris.
On a restart on lap three, Russell took advantage of his tyres’ superior grip to move ahead of the leading McLaren.
But that advantage progressively dwindled as the laps unfolded, with the medium compound eventually coming into its own.
Piastri reclaimed the lead from Russell on lap 10 and bever looked back. However, when Verstappen swept by the Mercedes, it looked like the race was heading towards a proper shootout between the McLaren and Red Bull contenders.
But Piastri ultimately managed to maintain a small but crucial gap with Verstappen during the pair’s final mad dash to the checkered flag.
"A very stressful race," Piastri said. "When I saw all the soft guys come through at the start, I thought we were in a bit of trouble and then their tyres fell off pretty quickly.
"The safety cars were my friend today, definitely, once Max got behind me.
"But the pace was reasonable and, in a race where you had to manage a lot the tyres and cars on other compounds, I think we did a really good job, so we're very happy.
"Once [Max] got through into second I thought I was going to be in a bit of trouble, but the pace was good and I managed the tyres well.
"A first sprint win sounds pretty cool."
Norris initially struggled in the upper tier of the field but the Briton’s medium rubber eventually allowed him to distance himself from the Ferraris and set off in pursuit of Russell whom he overtook on the final lap of the race to claim the final step on the podium.
But once again, the McLaren driver was not too happy with his performance.
"Oscar has done a mega job, he's had a faultless weekend," Norris said.
"I made a lot of mistakes and he hasn't. He's capitalised and he's done a better job, so just hats off to him. For our team it has been a mega day.
"A tough race for me. A bad start made everything much trickier, but I fought back well, some fun racing, good overtakes, all the way till the last lap on George.
"The softs obviously were a lot better for lap one and the opening stages, but they were lucky there were so many safety cars.
"If there hadn't been so many safety cars, I think easily the medium would have been a better choice."
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