Latest news with #EmiliaRomangaGrandPrix
Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
Piastri makes sly dig at McLaren as team-mate Norris gains ground in title race
Oscar Piastri started Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on pole position, but ended up third after a number of errors allowed Max Verstappen to win and Lando Norris to claim second Oscar Piastri criticised his McLaren engineers for their tactics during the Emilia Romanga Grand Prix as team-mate Lando Norris capitalised to gain ground in the title race. Piastri had started the race at Imola on pole position but lost his lead at the first corner to Red Bull's Max Verstappen. The Dutchman raced off into the sunset and sealed an easy victory as he continues to mount a spirited title defence. Piastri was unable to really challenge Verstappen, with a number of strategy calls failing to pay off. His first pit stop saw him drop behind a number of slower cars, ruining any chance he had of undercutting Verstappen. The Australian was also not brought in to stop under a late safety car, with Norris taking full advantage of his tyre superiority to overtake him and claim second place. It means that Norris is now just 13 points behind Piastri in the drivers' championship heading into next weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. Piastri had won four of the opening six rounds, including the last three in succession before Sunday's race. That run is now over though, with Piastri even conceding that Williams star Alexander Albon may well have overtaken him had he managed to cleanly pass Ferrari's Charles Leclerc earlier on. The Australian admitted he had made an error in not defending adequately against Verstappen, but he also pointed to a number of mistakes by his McLaren strategists. "Just braked too early, it was a good move by Max as well. Disappointing obviously, and then we made a few wrong calls after that. Not our best Sunday, lots to look at and review after that one. We'll see what we can do a bit better," Piastri said. "It was tricky, the VSC was perfectly timed for Max and Lando, and I had used both my tyres at that point so it made my last race start tricky, I didn't have enough grip so third it is." Former Williams star Jacque Villeneuve issued a brutal assessment of McLaren's strategy during Sunday's race. He accused the British team of being 'weak' in not allowing Norris to pass Piastri earlier. "They show weakness," he told Sky Sports. "Basically, they don't show the strength that Red Bull are always showing year after year. It's as if they're afraid to be aggressive in trying to win the drivers' championship and they're afraid to go against Piastri. "It's really, really odd. Piastri messed up that first corner. He got caught out sleeping. He should never have come out of the corner second and then he didn't have the pace, which was odd. Norris had more pace. "On the restart, McLaren knew that it was a matter of laps before Norris would have taken Piastri with the tyre difference, it was obvious. 100% sure he would get ahead, so why make him lose three laps instead of giving him a shot at Verstappen? "Because Verstappen is in for the championship. You don't want to give Verstappen wins. That's more points for him in the drivers' championship. They seem to be happy with second and third. McLaren has a car where a good weekend means first and second. Anything less is a bit disappointing. First and third is fairly acceptable, but they seem happy with second and third."
Daily Mirror
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
F1 star says 'I couldn't avoid it' after hitting a rabbit in Imola GP practice
The Formula One circus swings into Imola this weekend, though one driver had an unfortunate incident during Friday's free practice sessions as the Emilia Romanga Grand Prix got underway Alpine star Pierre Gasly insisted there was nothing he could do to avoid running over a rabbit during the first practice session at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Gasly has endured a miserable season, picking up just seven points from the first six races. He enters this weekend's race in Imola with a new team-mate in the form of Franco Colapinto and a new team boss in Flavio Briatorie. It appears the fiery Italian has had an immediate impact since replacing Oliver Oakes. Gasly came home in a solid sixth place in Free Practice One, before landing the third-quickest time in Free Practice Two. But the Frenchman was forced to recover from a bizarre incident during first practice. During the opening session, Gasly's car collided with a rabbit which had been crossing the track. The animal made a massive impact with the front of the Alpine car. Gasly insisted afterwards that he had been unable to avoid the incident. But he hailed his team for repairing the car quickly enough for it to come home in an impressive third place in the second session. He said: 'Very sadly, I couldn't tell if it was a small cat or a big rabbit - it turned out it was a big rabbit - just jumping across the track. I couldn't avoid it so I had quite a big impact on the front wing. "Unfortunately that was it for the rabbit and for the front wing it was not ideal. Not the end of the session we wanted. I must say it's quite unfortunate. Obviously we always try to look after our parts and do the best job we can. "So when such things happen it's not great. Quite a bit of damage on the front wing and the floor but the guys managed to do great work to repair it. But I think we could have done without it.' McLaren scored a one-two in both of Friday's sessions, with Oscar Piastri twice leading Lando Norris. And having finished just behind the duo, Gasly was left hailing his 'best Friday' of the year so far. 'It's been a very, very good Friday. From the first lap I could tell the car was in a much better place than in Miami. I'm glad we managed to answer some of the question marks we had after the last race," Gasly added. "Very pleased with the feeling in the car, the car reacts the way I want. I'm really able to be at the limit and push it to the maximum, so it's a nice feeling. The performance is there, obviously we know from Friday to Saturday the others usually keep a bit more in their pocket. "But I think it's quite fair to say it's probably been the best Friday so far this year. We know that the field can have all come slightly closer together on Saturday. "But, with what I'm feeling at the moment, if we manage to keep that momentum, find a little bit more pace for tomorrow, I think we should be in the mix for the top 10 which is exciting. I'm pleased and excited to see the rest of the weekend.'
