Piastri survives early knock for Belgian GP fifth spot
Richard Hookham |
Oscar Piastri has banked a battling fifth place at the Belgian Grand Prix after the Australian F1 driver survived an early collision that threatened to wreck his race hopes at Spa-Francorchamps.
The 25-year-old suffered minor damage to his McLaren in the incident which saw him collide with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was cleared of wrongdoing by race officials and went on to claim second place.
And Piastri, who won this race last year, recovered well enough to ensure he finished in the scoring places with Italian Kimi Antonelli roaring to victory, with Max Verstappen third behind Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton confirmed fourth.
“It had big consequences for me. Could’ve had very big consequences for both of us but it is what it is,” Piastri told Sky Sports afterwards regarding his early collision.
“I think from then on the race was definitely more difficult. The balance suffered quite a lot for the first stint after that.
“We were able to compensate a bit in the second stint and the pace got better again but yeah it was just bit of a tricky race from then on.”
The Melburnian racer was told he was good to continue after being told by his race engineer: “We have some damage to the right hand side forward floor. It’s not huge, we’re still in this race.”
Hamilton kept his fourth spot after his Ferrari team survived a post-race investigation but fined for an unsafe release from a pitstop that saw a team mechanic hit the deck but uninjured as he tried to adjust the front wing.
“****, is he okay?” a worried Hamilton called out over the radio with race engineer, Carlos Santi, reassuring him: “He’s okay. We are all okay.”
The incident followed another early controversy when George Russell was forced to retire on the first lap after a prang with fellow Brit Hamilton to deal a huge blow to the Mercedes man’s title hopes.
Russell, who had started third on the grid was attempting to overtake Hamilton when his rear wheel was tagged by the Ferrari driver, sending him spinning into the gravel and forcing the arrival of the safety car.
“Car crossed over right in front of me. I was right behind another car, so I had no front end,” Hamilton reported to his engineer before being told he was being dealt a five-second time penalty for the clash.
Russell drops to third in the drivers’ championship behind Hamilton and was fuming with the outcome having lost further ground on title leader Antonelli.
“The incident with Lewis was a racing incident,” he said.
“He didn’t do it on purpose. He was more to blame than I. But he didn’t do anything reckless.
“I was just angry I was in that position in the first place. I got a great start and I was ready to fight the two guys ahead of me up to turn five and instead I get swamped by three drivers.”
The victory was the sixth of the season for teenage driver Antonelli and the first since last month’s Monaco Grand Prix, which leaves him 45 points clear of Russell in the championship.
“Let’s go!” he screamed to the Mercedes team over the radio.
“Thank you so much, guys, thank you.”
Piastri’s McLaren team-mate, Lando Norris, started 13th due to a grid penalty but he still finished seventh after a pitstop delay.
Frenchman Isack Hadjar finished sixth behind Piastri for Red Bull, despite starting at the back of the field because of a penalty.
AAP