Spa [Belgium], July 30 : After taking the lead for the first time in a Formula 1 lap during Saturday's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, McLaren's Oscar Piastri paused to reflect on another significant occasion in his blossoming career.
After a downpour delayed the start of the race, drivers eventually departed behind the Safety Car on fully wet tyres. However, a drying track presented a tactical conundrum when the action finally began after numerous formation laps.
Piastri led a stream of vehicles into the pits to switch to intermediate tyres as pole-sitter Max Verstappen persisted on wet tyres for the opening lap of the race. That one quicker lap gave Piastri P1 when Verstappen pitted.
Piastri was overhauled by Verstappen and had to settle for second, but he nonetheless took plenty of positives out of the experience.
“I’m very, very happy. We tried our best. We boxed when the Safety Car came in, led a few laps, but we were no match for Max," Piastri said after the race as quoted by Formula 1.
“It’s nice to be up there in P2. I think apart from Max our pace was really strong. Full credit to the team again. The last three weekends we’ve had have been pretty special compared to where we have been, so I can’t thank them enough for the car," he added.
“We’ve still got a little bit of work to do, clearly, to get right to the top, but it’s a lot nicer to be up there. To lead my first laps was a day I won’t forget," Piastri further stated.
Expanding on the intermediate split and the moment Verstappen reclaimed the lead down the Kemmel Straight, he said, “I thought the Safety Car was going to be in my favour, it meant less laps to try and hold him behind."
“I looked out of Turn 1… I feel like I got a decent restart, I looked at the top of Eau Rouge and he was basically on top of me already. I couldn’t keep him behind on the straight. But I’m very happy to get the good points. [It’s my] first top three in [an F1] race, so I’ll enjoy it and hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow," said the McLaren driver.
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