ZANDVOORT, Netherlands :Oscar Piastri has backed McLaren over strategy calls despite them arguably denying him a victory at the last race in Hungary and reducing his Formula One championship lead.
Piastri qualified ahead of teammate Lando Norris at the Hungaroring and appeared the quicker car of the duo during the race.
But after Norris lost places early on to Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, the Briton opted for a one-stop strategy which paid off and denied his two-stopping Australian teammate the victory.
Norris, winner of three of the last four races, is now nine points behind Piastri with 10 rounds remaining. McLaren have won the last four races one-two.
In the aftermath, McLaren defended the race effectively being decided on strategy and its drivers’ right to adopt different approaches.
Piastri told reporters at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort on Thursday that the differing race strategies had been discussed.
“Yeah, we’ve spoken about it since then,” he said.
“I think ultimately there are race situations where being the second car from the team on track or just… being the last car in the train or the last car in the group, you’ve got a lot less to lose.
“So that kind of aspect is always going to be there. And I think it would be unfair to neutralise that just because of wanting to be on the same strategy.”
Piastri said the discussions about what might have been done differently had been “very productive”.
“So, I think we’re still going to be free to pick alternating strategies if that’s what we want,” he added.
“It’s obviously a difficult thing to try and cover, different strategies, especially when you’re in the position we are in the championships.”
McLaren are 299 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings and cruising to their second successive crown. The drivers’ duel is far harder to predict as Piastri and Norris could take it down to the wire.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
