Oscar Piastri no longer leads the Formula 1 World Championship after the Mexican Grand Prix, this Sunday (26).
The Australian from McLaren finished in fifth place, with four stages remaining until the end of the season.
Even so, Piastri demonstrated confidence when evaluating his performance.
The driver started in seventh, dropped to ninth after the start and reached 11th position after the first pit stop, on lap 25. McLaren opted for a two-stop strategy that made the recovery possible.
Piastri overtook Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli during the second stop, and also overtook ten laps to go.
The Australian also saw his chance of reaching fourth place, occupied by Briton Oliver Bearman, from Haas, collapse due to the virtual safety car entering the final laps. If you complete the overtaking, .
“The speed of the car was very good this weekend”, analyzed Piastri. “The challenge was to unlock this potential. I feel like I managed to take some steps in this sense today.”
He also commented that he needed to modify his riding. “After qualifying, it became clear that I had to change some things in a very significant way. It was strange, because I’ve been driving the same way all year, but in the last races the car or the tires required a very different style.”
Even with the podium slipping away, the Australian highlighted that he sees progress: “Finishing fifth when your teammate wins the race is nothing spectacular, but I hope that the changes I made today show progress when we analyze the data.”
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
