‘F***ing Piastri’: Aussie tormented in brutal scene after Max Verstappen victory

Oscar Piastri was forced to endure a cruel moment with Max Verstappen with a radio message saying it all after a dramatic race.

Oscar Piastri has endured a painful moment at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with his costly mistake rubbed in his face as his tormentor watched on.

The Australian’s lead in the Formula One championship has been shaved to 13 points after Max Verstappen produced one of the best overtakes of his career to win Monday morning’s race.

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Piastri started on pole position and got a decent start off the line, only to fall victim to a spectacular piece of late braking by Verstappen, who snatched the lead with a sweeping lunge on the first lap.

It was a masterclass move from the reigning world champion — and, after executing the manoeuvre, the Red Bull driver was never threatened on his way to the chequered flag.

It was a hard day at the office for Piastri, 24, who was also leap-frogged teammate Lando Norris late in the race as the McLaren pair settled for second and third.

Lewis Hamilton brought the army of Ferrari supporters at the team’s home circuit to life when he climbed up to finish fourth.

The biggest drama of the day, however, unfolded on the opening lap when Piastri was “caught sleeping” in opening the door for an aggressive Verstappen gambit.

Max Verstappen overtakes Oscar Piastri on the first lap. Photo: Fox Sports

Verstappen described his move on Piastri as “sending it around the outside”, adding it “unleashed our pace” once the Red Bull was in clear air in the lead.

Sky Sports expert commentator Anthony Davidson wondered whether Piastri could have been more aggressive at the start to shut the door on Verstappen.

“I think he’ll be kicking himself a bit for Turn 1 and Turn 2 through into Tamburello,” Davidson said.

“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.”

After reviewing the footage again, Davidson said Verstappen’s move was “epic”.

Former F1 world Jacques Villeneuve said: “It was a copy of Jeddah except he (Piastri) didn’t close the door, he left enough space because he was caught sleeping.”

In brutal scenes post-race, Piastri was made to re-watch the footage of Verstappen’s overtake as he sat in the cool down room in front of a TV.

To make matters worse, Verstappen walked into the room right when the footage was being played.

The pair initially did not say a word to each other — until Norris arrived and the mood lightened.

To rub salt into Piastri’s wounds, the Melburnian also had to watch the footage of Norris overtaking him.

Piastri’s engineers made a gamble to leave him on the track instead of taking a final pit stop and it meant that the Australian’s tyres were 20 laps older than Norris’ when they raced wheel to wheel late in the race.

Piastri held his teammate off for a few laps, but the British driver eventually got the move done.

Hello darkness my old friend. Photo: Fox Sports.

Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen did not say a word to each other. Photo: Fox Sports.

While Norris’ move was impressive — it was nothing compared to Verstappen’s earlier blitz.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner praised Verstappen’s killer instinct, suggesting he sensed Piastri was going to be tentative because he is now defending his lead in the world championship.

“That first corner was in it or bin it,” Horner said.

“Oscar was fair and gave him space but Max was coming from a way back and he just commits to the corner.”

“Oscar is trying to defend a championship lead and Max saw a gap and went for it. That’s the instinctive racer we see week in and week out.”

Mercedes’ driver’s radio message says it all

George Russell's view of the overtake. Photo: X.

Oscar Piastri ony had to give an inch and Max Verstappen took a mile.

The Australian’s decision not to put his elbows out as the Dutch driver swooped clearly shocked Mercedes driver George Russell, who had the best seat in the house to watch the opening lap drama.

“F***ing Piastri,” he said on team radio.

“What was he doing?”

You can watch the incident from Russell’s vantage point in a video above.

There had been suggestions Piastri was beginning to get in Verstappen’s head after their incident at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

In that case, Piastri flexed his muscles and forced Verstappen wide in similar circumstances to Monday morning’s battle.

However, with Piastri appearing to take a less aggressive line at the Imola Circiut, it appears Verstappen may have burrowed back into Piastri’s noggin.

Piastri had been aiming to join Ayrton Senna as the only McLaren drivers to win four races in a row.

He still leads the championship on 146 points, 13 clear of Norris and 22 ahead of Verstappen.

“I just braked too early,” Piastri said.

“It was a good move by Max. Disappointing obviously but I think we made a few wrong calls after that anyway. Not our best Sunday.

“Well done to Max and Red Bull. It was a good move but also they had pace today.

“I tried my best to hang onto second but just had nowhere near enough grip. So third it is.

Asked about racing Norris, Piastri said: “It was probably inevitably that he was going to get past, but I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.”

Norris said: “Max drove a good race today. We had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself, which is always tense, but always good fun.

“For us as a team, second and third is great. Of course you’d love to be up there fighting against Max, but they were too good for us today.”

It’s Verstappen’s 65th career win and he equals Michael Schumacher with the most podiums with the same team (116).