Oscar Piastri (McLaren/6th): Fundamental problems and a drop in performance

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri started the Dutch Grand Prix from fourth on the grid, but finished in a disappointing sixth place. His team-mate Lando Norris took the win, pulling off some spectacular overtakes on the narrow Zandvoort circuit – whilst Piastri fell back.

Frustration and disappointment for Piastri

The Australian said: “A frustrating afternoon with a disappointing result, but at least we’ve got a few points on the board. The most positive thing we can take from this is the start and the first lap after the red flag, when the car felt good and we were able to make up some places. The first stint felt quite decent, but from the second stint onwards the pace just wasn’t there anymore, and it turned into a real struggle.”

On top of that, there was a comparatively slow pit stop: on lap 19, Piastri came in for a tyre change and spent 5.4 seconds in front of the garage. That took him about twice as long as usual. His team-mate Lando Norris, as well as rivals including Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Liam Lawson (driving for Red Bull Racing at Zandvoort), pitted three laps later and were significantly quicker. It was a bitter blow for Piastri: George Russell (Mercedes), who had picked up fresh tyres one lap before Piastri, had a pit stop of normal duration (3.0 seconds) – and Piastri rejoined the track behind Russell, even though he had actually been ahead of the Briton.

“Significant drop in performance”

Piastri: “A slow pit stop didn’t help, but the underlying problem was the lack of pace. We’ll be working on that ahead of Monza. That’s now the priority: working with the team to comb through the data to find the cause and ensure we can move in a more positive direction for the upcoming races. We’ll review and analyse the entire weekend to understand why we experienced such a significant drop in performance.”

Piastri’s team principal at McLaren, Andrea Stella, said of his protégé: “For Oscar, the final result of sixth place doesn’t reflect the level he showed throughout the weekend. We lost time during the pit stop and then struggled to get the hard tyres up to temperature during the second stint, which cost him several positions. His pace in the first and final stints was much more indicative of his true potential. We know we can tap into even more of that potential.”

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