Oscar Piastri’s tight fight for fifth place with Lewis Hamilton in Saturday’s Saudi Arabian kept viewers entertained, but for the McLaren charger stuck behind the Mercedes for the better part of 20 laps, it was a different story.
Despite trailing closely, the Aussie driver couldn't find a seven-time F1 world champion, their fight unfolding over the midway point of the 50-lap race on Jeddah's demanding street circuit.
However, relief came on lap 36 when Hamilton finally undertook his single pit stop.
Piastri, who had stopped on lap 7 and opted to run a long 43-lap stint on the hard tyre, capitalized on his rival’s move to secure a solid ‘best of the rest’ fourth-place finish, outpacing the Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, both Mercedes and his teammate Lando Norris who finished eighth.
Asked if snapping at the heels of the Mercedes for 20 laps had been a fun affair, Piastri said: “I'm not sure fun is the word I would use; frustrating, yes!”
“It kind of just showed a couple of weaknesses of ours,” he admitted.
“I was very relieved when he boxed out of the way but, yeah, just didn't quite have enough on the straights, mainly, to get past.”
©McLaren
McLaren’s MCL38 battled well through Jeddah’s high-speed corners but the car’s straightline speed deficit and the relative weakness of its DRS were clear for all to see.
“It's very, very even [between McLaren and Mercedes],” the Aussie explained.
“We have different strengths and weaknesses, for sure, and I think qualifying made the difference today.
“Lewis showed that if we qualified behind them, there was a good chance we were going to be stuck behind them for the whole night.
“So I think it's very, very tight between us and we need to do some work to try and jump them and catch the two teams ahead.”
While Piastri ended his evening with a sense of frustration, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella complimented his driver, insisting his solid result was built on his strong P5 performance in qualifying.
“Oscar's race is effectively cashing in the strong results he already had yesterday, where he made strong progress through qualifying to qualify in P5,” Stella explained.
“Today, he managed to gain one more position, finishing P4 in what I think was a very clean and solid race, staying out of trouble, being quick, but also being patient when you have to be patient – you don't have to get nervous like ‘I've not been able to pass Hamilton, I'm going to attack even more'.
“Actually, at one stage, he had a little lock up into Corner 1. A couple of times went long… He stayed calm. He waited for the race to come to him. We're just very, very pleased but not surprised.
“We see all the details, we see all the data, and we know the potential is very high. And we know that the consistency from a racing point of view, and mental point of view, is very strong.”
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