McLaren team principal Andrea Stella: This is how he responded to Piastri’s outburst

Oscar Piastri’s race at the Hungaroring came to an end after his second pit stop and a crash with Carlos Sainz, who had long resisted being lapped and eventually collided with the leading McLaren. The crash, combined with the blistering pace of his team-mate Lando Norris, cost him the lead. To make matters worse, he later retired from the race due to a gearbox problem.

After the crash with Sainz, the usually well-behaved Australian ranted over the radio: “Get out of my way, you bloody idiot, oh my God!” And, in a sarcastic tone, he told his team: “By the way, nice of you to factor that in – thanks for that!” The 25-year-old from Melbourne was reasoned after the race and showed understanding for the team’s strategic decision.

“When Lando took the lead, I knew I didn’t have the pace to challenge him, and it was clear to me that my chances of winning were gone. I felt that the team might not have brought Lando in if it had been a battle for the lead, but I know it wasn’t a two-horse race. They can’t just leave Lando out on the track because of something neither he nor I can influence,” explained Piastri.

“From that perspective, everything’s fine. I was just very, very angry at the time about what had happened. If I hadn’t been rammed, I would still have stayed ahead of Lando,” the nine-time Grand Prix winner is certain.

Team principal Andrea Stella shows understanding

Team principal Andrea Stella confirmed as much during his press conference: “Immediately after the race, Oscar made it clear that he’d made his comments over the radio in the heat of the moment, whilst he was annoyed. There were a few unfortunate circumstances involved. First and foremost, of course, was the fact that he collided with a car he had to lap. And at the same time, Lando’s pace was simply brilliant when he had a clear run. I think he made up half a second per lap. And that pace meant that Lando finished ahead of Oscar.”

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“I think Oscar understood that straight away. It’s perfectly understandable that, when you’ve been in the lead for almost half the race and then see yourself lose the lead because of an incident with a lapped car, you might lose your composure for a moment and make a spur-of-the-moment comment – but that’s absolutely no problem,” the Italian clarified.

The pit stop strategy arose from the need to respond to Lewis Hamilton’s stop on lap 34. “That stop gave Hamilton the chance to get past the two McLarens, so we had to react to it. Oscar was still leading the race at that point, so we gave him priority for the stop.”