Oscar Piastri came tantalisingly close to securing his maiden F1 Grand Prix victory in Austria on Sunday, but ended up finishing in second behind mercedes driver George Russell in a dramatic finish.
It hadn't looked like the weekend was going Piastri's way. He was second in yesterday's Sprint race, but then had his fastest lap time in the final round of qualifying deleted for exceeding track limits.
McLaren protested the decision but the stewards dismissed it leaving Piastri lining up on the grid in seventh place rather than on the second row where he had been expected to be.
That left him in the thick of the action when the lights went out at the Red Bull Ring, and he jostled with Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez that left both the Ferrari and Red Bull with damage.
"I didn't get the best of starts, but saw a bit of an opening on the outside and then, yeah, went nice and late on the brakes," he recalled. "I couldn't really see where Checo went on the inside.
"I didn't think he was really that far up alongside Charles, but obviously all three of us kind of met at the apex, so it was quite fortunate for myself.
"I think there was a little bit of damage, but I don't think anything major. Had a bit more contact with Checo again a bit later in the lap, so it was an eventful race.
The McLaren escaped without any significant injury. With Leclerc out of the picture, Piastri was quickly able to dispense with Perez and a longer first stint than the other front runners briefly put him into the lead on lap 24.
Piastri spent the middle part of the race battling over fifth place with Lewis Hamilton. Then came the contact between his team mate Lando Norris and race leader Max Verstappen on lap 64 and the world turned upside down.
Piastri was able to make a crucial pass on Ferrari's Carlos Sainz before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed to put him into what was now second place
"Turn 6 was a happy hunting ground this weekend. I think I did three moves there around the outside," he said when asked about his pass on Sainz. :[It was] very, very close on the way into turn 4, Had a bit more grip around the outside of 6 and managed to get it done. Pretty happy with that."
However there wasn't quite enough time for him to catch Russell after the VSC. “There’s a lot of what ifs and maybes, obviously starting from yesterday," he said, referring to that fateful stewards decision in qualifying.
“I know it's only my fourth podium in F1, but so close to a win it hurts a little bit,” Piastri admitted. “Just when it's that close, you can't help but hurt a little. The second half of the race we were coming on pretty strong.
"I think the first stint didn't make quite as much progress as I would have liked. Obviously had a bit of an incident in turn 1, and then just overheated the tyres a little bit.
"With the dirty air, it was so hard to get within a second, so didn't make much progress there. But then the next two stints, it really started to come alive. Went a bit longer on both the pit stops and turns.
"It just kind of felt like we needed some more laps towards the end, unfortunately. But after starting seventh [it was] obviously a good turnaround., good points"
It's the third time that Piastri has finished a Grand Prix in P2, the first being Qatar in 2023 (where he won the Sprint race) and most recently this year in Monaco.
“I haven't seen what happened with Lando and Max but clearly it was pretty even up the front," he added, pointing out that this bodes well for the team's prospects next weekend in the British Grand Prix
"I think we're actually in the mix," he said. “Silverstone's a track I always enjoy, [it's] the team's home race, so [I'm] excited for what's to come.”
Piastri almost made his first F1 podium appearance this time one year ago, if not for an ill-timed Safety Car. “Obviously it was a place of good memories from last year, and hopefully we can be up the front again."
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