Piastri nearing maiden Grand Prix win as ‘hardest part nailed’

Oscar Piastri has expressed growing confidence that he is on the cusp of his maiden Grand Prix win after several near misses, insisting his McLaren team has got “the hardest part nailed”.

Save for Miami, Piastri has finished every race this season among the top ten, while he scored runner-up podium positions in Monaco and in Austria.

However, while the young Aussie already has a Sprint race victory on his CV, thanks to his win in last year’s short form event in Qatar, he could have added a proper Grand Prix triumph to his track record this season had he not endured various challenges such as strategic errors by his team or qualifying setbacks, like his controversial and frustrating lap deletion in Q3 in Spielberg.

But Piastri emphasized that these issues have been varied rather than recurring, which suggests that the fundamental elements required for victory are in place.

“I think I’m definitely ready to do it,” he said.

“I think the kind of good thing but kind of bad thing is it’s never been the same thing that’s prevented us from winning.

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“Today we made a wrong call, Imola we had an issue in qualifying with traffic, Austria… well…

“Yeah, so I guess it’s a good thing that it’s not been a repeated error or mistake.

“But yeah, I feel like there’s been a good handful now, I think on both sides of the garage, where we felt like we could have won the race.

“I think we’ve got the hardest part nailed, I think we’ve got an incredibly quick car, we just need to capitalise on using it.”

At Silverstone last time, the changing conditions played into the skilled hands of McLaren’s drivers, with Lando Norris and Piastri running first and second mid-way through the race after overhauling their Mercedes rivals.

But McLaren’s reluctance to double stack its drivers, when a prolonged period of rain set in and required a switch to intermediates, proved costly for Piastri who lost significant time by pitting a lap later than Norris.

Both drivers lost ground and missed an opportunity to win, with Norris finishing third, just ahead of Piastri who noted how well McLaren typically performs in mixed track conditions.

“I think those kind of conditions have always been good for us in the last 18 months,” he said.

“I think this year it’s not been as clear, but I think also for the Mercedes, they’re out in front, they’re the ones that are seeing the weather first.

“But clearly we were very strong in those conditions, and I felt like I was very strong.

“They’re incredibly tough conditions, you need to keep the tyres in the right window, you also need to take a lot of risks.

“And they’re conditions I’ve always loved in my career, so yeah, I think a combination of a lot of practice.”

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