23/07/2024
NEWS STORY
Oscar Piastri revels in the aftermath of maiden win even though it was "a bit complicated at the end".
While most will point to his lack of emotion following his maiden F1 win as a hangover from the radio calls to his teammate, Oscar Piastri admits that outwardly he doesn't like to show his emotions.
Nonetheless he was delighted to finally stand atop the podium.
"This is really the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of an F1 podium," he said at race end. "Obviously a bit complicated at the end, but I put myself in the right position at the start.
"Thank you for the team for an amazing effort, an amazing car," he added. "(It's a ) hell of a lot of fun racing with McLaren. I can't thank them enough for giving me the opportunity to be in F1, and now to win together 16-18 months, it's an incredible feeling.
"It's a beast at the moment," he said of his car. "It's fast in every condition. Today, we had it under control completely. It's an amazing feeling to just be able to manage the race like that, with both cars, and secure a one-two."
Asked about those final laps as he waited on his teammate to yield the position, he said: "The longer you leave it, of course the more you get a bit nervous. It was well executed by the team, and I think it was the right thing.
"I put myself in the right position at the start," he added. "With the different strategy we had, yes, my pace probably wasn't as quick as I would have liked in the last stint but I was still in the right position to make it happen."
Asked about the call to pit his teammate first, the move which eventually led to all those frantic radio calls, Piastri said: "I'm sure it's something we'll discuss as a team. The information I had at the time was Lando was boxing early to cover Lewis, and I was going long to cover Max, essentially, because I knew that he'd stop later, and I think we were just being very safe. Of course, that naturally gave Lando an undercut, maybe made things a little bit more complicated than it needed to be. But yeah, I'm sure that's something we'll go through."
As the radio calls to Norris continued, was the Australian concerned that his teammate might ignore them?
"I don't think I was really concerned," he said. "The only thing I was concerned about a bit was if there was a Safety Car, then it would have taken the situation out of our hands, would have taken the control out of our hands. So that was really the only thing I was a bit concerned about.
"But, you know, we'd spoken about it at the timing of the stop that we would sort it back out. And, yeah, I mean, I had full trust in everyone in the team, including Lando, that we would make that happen.
"I think the whole race, we were very evenly matched," he said of he and his teammate after being asked why he was unable to close the gap as Norris had demanded. "I think the dirty air made a big difference. I think where I was in the last stint, I don't think it made that much of a difference. I think ultimately, I just wasn't quite as quick as I needed to be in the last stint. So I think that's something that I that I want to improve.
"I'm very, very happy with the result, of course," he added, "but in terms of leaving the weekend, you know, with the question of am I fully satisfied with my performance today? No, I'm not. There's still things I want to improve. Yeah, I mean, I think track position made a very big difference today. And I think that's why having the start I did was so critical. Yeah, I think just ultimately, I didn't quite have the pace that I wanted in the last thing. And I still need to go and assess why that was the case."
Asked if the win was everything he hoped it would be, he admitted: "I don't think it's fully sunk in yet. I mean, I'm not really the kind of person to get overly emotional. So, you know, I don't think you're ever really going to see that from me.
"But, no, it's an incredible feeling. Like I said, it's something I've dreamed of since I was a kid. You know, we've had a couple of opportunities through the last few races that we've come very close to. And yeah, now to make it happen is an incredible feeling. But I'm sure with more time, you know, I think in Qatar last year, you know, that didn't fully sink in until probably the season ended. And, you know, I think with this, it will probably be a similar kind of feeling. Yeah, it's just quite a cool feeling, but quite hard to, I guess, describe and know how to feel sometimes."
Finally, asked why there wasn't a 'shoey' on the podium, he replied: "The shoey is Danny Ric's thing. I mean, I'm going to get roped into it because I'm an Aussie, but I don't know. I'll try and think of something new.
"I think that's gone and done," he added. "I know we did one at Silverstone last week, but I think we were a bit upset after the race there, so we needed some cheering up. Maybe we'll do one in the plane on the way back. We can probably pay the cleaning fee now. But no, I'll leave that to Danny Ric and that can be his legacy. I'll create my own."
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