'Should never happen': Oscar Piastri under fire as F1 legend blasts 'weak' move

Yahoo

18-05-2025

Oscar Piastri has admitted he made a mistake on the opening corner of the Emilia-Ramagna Grand Prix, which saw him lose the lead and race to Max Verstappen. The Aussie championship leader was gunning for a fourth-straight victory, but instead was left lamenting the genius of Verstappen.
Piastri started the race at Imola on pole, but lost the lead almost immediately as Verstappen edged past him with a breathtaking move. The Aussie driver was then dudded by McLaren's tyre strategies, poor pit stops and an ill-timed safety car.
Driving on old tyres late in the race, Piastri was forced to say goodbye to second place as teammate Lando Norris surged past him on much fresher ones. The Aussie was forced to settle for third, cutting his lead in the championship to 16 points from Norris.
Speaking in commentary for Sky Sports, former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve said a pole-sitter "should never" lose the lead on the opening turn. 'Piastri messed up that first corner," he said. "He got caught out sleeping. He should never have come out of that corner second."
Co-commentator Anthony Davidson said: 'I think he'll be kicking himself a bit for Turn 1 and Turn 2 through into Tamburello. When he looks back at that, I'm sure he'll be thinking he could have braked later, could have got my elbows out a little bit more.
'You have to be on your absolute A-game when you've got Verstappen bearing down on you in the first couple of corners. You know he's going to go for it.'
Speaking after the race, Piastri conceded he messed up. "I thought I had it pretty under control. It was a good move from Max," he said. "I just braked too early. I definitely would have done something different. I would have braked about 10 metres later probably. I live and learn."
Villeneuve was also critical of McLaren's strategy, labelling it "weak". McLaren had opted not to order Piastri to yield to Norris late in the race, which would have given the Brit a better chance to try and catch Verstappen.
'They show weakness basically,' he said. 'They don't show the strength Red Bull are showing year after year. It's as if they're afraid to be aggressive to try and win the drivers' championship and they're afraid to go against Piastri, it's really odd.
"McLaren knew it was a matter of laps before Norris would overtake Piastri with the tyre difference. So why make him lose three laps instead of giving him a shot at Verstappen? Verstappen is in the championship (battle), you don't want to give him wins. That's more points for him.
'They (McLaren) seem to be happy with second and third. McLaren has a car where a good weekend is first and second. Anything less is barely acceptable, but they seem to be happy with second and third.'
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Norris felt it was a fair call for McLaren to allow Piastri to try and maintain his spot. "I was on better tyres, but I didn't expect anything," he said. "It was still a tough fight. It was close into turn one. It's the way it should be, of course."
Calling it "not our best Sunday", Piastri said there were "definitely a lot of things to look at and review after that", with the showpiece Monaco Grand Prix just a week away. "You're going have tough days in the championship, and this is clearly one of them. So as long as we learn the lessons, then that's all I can ask," he said.
DRIVER STANDINGS AFTER 7/24 ROUNDSVerstappen closes the gap to the McLarens 👀#F1 #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/8LbqNQpecX
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 18, 2025