Piastri still World Championship leader: Anger over botched stop is limited

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Perhaps the best news for Oscar Piastri after crossing the finish line in Monaco was that he remains in the lead of the World Championship. However, his advantage over teammate and race winner Lando Norris has shrunk to three points on Sunday.

Things could have been much worse on Sunday, much worse, as the McLaren driver even touched the wall with his left rear wheel due to a minor lapse of attention in Sainte-Dévote. Piastri, who had also crashed in the same corner during practice, escaped with a scare – and ended up taking home the next Monaco trophy in third place, following his second place the previous year.

This means he's only missing first place in the principality: "Of course, a win would have been nicer," the Australian admitted at the finish: "But it was a somewhat difficult weekend. The practice sessions were pretty chaotic, and I went into qualifying with little confidence because things hadn't been going well up to that point."

Piasri downplays chances: "We were too far behind"

In the end, the crucial tenths of a second were missing for pole position in the hotly contested, most important qualifying session of the season: "I was close, but not close enough. And here in Monaco, it's like this: Wherever you qualify, you'll usually finish." From Piastri's perspective, this theory was confirmed once again on Sunday.

Alone: ​​The World Championship leader had already sensed an opportunity with the strategy, but a slow pit stop by his McLaren crew also squandered this opportunity - although Piastri downplays the impact of the scene: "I don't think it would have worked, we were too far back," he says, referring to a possible undercut against Charles Leclerc: "We tried to force something, but I don't think it would have changed the result."

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella agrees: "To take a one-two, Oscar would have had to have the pace to close the gap to Leclerc over a certain distance. And once you're in the gears of the car in front, you can start thinking about options. But Oscar was always a bit too far away to even consider that," the Italian analyzes.

World Championship lead intact: "Certainly not a bad weekend"

Although the Grand Prix was "more complex than a typical Monaco race" this time due to the tactical element of the two mandatory pit stops, Stella nevertheless notes: "There weren't really many opportunities for the top three to change the order." Piastri is therefore also "quite satisfied" with his result overall, explaining: "Sure, we can look at a few things for next year, but we scored points again and I'm on the Monaco podium again – so it certainly wasn't a bad weekend."

In any case, "everything felt okay" with his car on Sunday, said the McLaren star, "but in a race, you're not constantly driving at the limit." His biggest problem in Monaco was simply "even getting into the rhythm before qualifying – and that's immediately taking its toll here: I think the weekend slipped away from us a bit. The pace was still there, but it was difficult to really get everything together perfectly."

Stella: Consistency was the problem at Piastri

After Piastri's stumbling start, there was nothing left to do but limit the damage. Looking at his two drivers, Stella also sees clear advantages for winner Norris at the end of the weekend: "Lando was very fast right from the start, right from the first lap of the first practice session. With Oscar, we also had very good pace at certain points; he was strong at certain moments – but unlike last year, Oscar struggled to maintain that rhythm throughout the entire weekend."

Rather, the championship leader struggled with the car in some areas, "especially with the car's nervousness in slow corners. That's why it took longer in qualifying for him to build up the necessary pace," so it's only logical for Stella, "that he was a small step behind what he could have actually shown."

So, Piastri wasn't so much lacking "absolute speed," but rather "consistency throughout the entire weekend." Together with the Australian, they will now examine the various factors – and, if possible, resolve them. Third place isn't a big deal, though, Stella believes: "They always say: championships are won with consistency. If you're not fast enough to win, you still have to stay at the front. And that's exactly what Oscar did."