World championship leader Oscar Piastri leaves Imola with some wounds to lick. Not only did a lapse in concentration at the start possibly cost him the victory, but the strategy also didn’t play in his favor. Could things have been done differently? Andrea Stella clears up the doubts surrounding the two-stop strategy.
The Australian started from pole position, but while defending from George Russell’s attacks, he left the door open for Max Verstappen, who managed to slip around the outside and take the lead. From that moment on, Oscar Piastri had no way of reclaiming the spot from a surprisingly fast Red Bull.
But that’s not all — the McLaren driver was also among the first to pit for hard tyres, following Charles Leclerc’s move to trigger the pit stops. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, on the other hand, stayed out much longer and were ultimately favored by both the Virtual Safety Car and the full Safety Car.
At that point, Oscar Piastri had no choice but to settle for third place, maintaining his lead in the championship, but with his teammate and Max Verstappen closing the gap. After the race, Andrea Stella explained that the team opted for a two-stop strategy in the hope of reducing the gap.
“Well, I think at that point Oscar’s tyres were degrading significantly. And Oscar’s feedback also indicated as much,” Andrea Stella told the media.
“It wasn’t clear before the race started whether it would be a one-stop or two-stop race. If it was going to be two, then that was the right time to act. But once he switched to the hard tyres, he actually wasn’t much faster than Lando and Max who stayed out on used mediums.”
“So I think the hard tyres were a bit less competitive than we expected, but we had to change strategy and try to create the conditions to beat Max,” said the Italian. “I think this is something you can only judge in hindsight. So no regrets — ultimately it was the same result for the team, and for Oscar, sometimes you take risks to win.”
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