Why Oscar Piastri has Max on his back ahead of Monaco’s street circuit
Oscar Piastri is moving from the deep disappointment of his third place at Sunday’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to the showpiece event on the Formula One calendar. There’s no question Verstappen’s raw aggression shook up the young Australian.
Superyachts are parked at Port Hercules for $850,000 a night. The Casino de-Monte Carlo is grinning and glowing up on the hill. A lady dressed to the nines is spraying perfume on her chihuahua. I’m sure the little flea bag desires to light up a fashionable cigarette and blow a smoke ring in my face. She puts her nose in the air and toddles off.
Oscar Piastri is moving from the deep disappointment of his third place at Sunday’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to the showpiece event on the Formula One calendar.
Monte Carlo is almost a caricature of Monte Carlo. It’s so Monte Carlo. Piastri will contest the Wimbledon of motorsport with his momentum shaken, and perhaps stirred, by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen roughing him up with a masterclass of elbows-out driving at Imola.
Piastri won’t dwell too long … Monaco is the sort of place where the rest of the world doesn’t seem to exist. There can’t be enough room in the principality for a car race – I’m assured there is.
The grandstands are up, and the barriers are in place on a tight, twisty circuit, and the croupiers are rolling their dice, and a girl in a green dress is on a blue scooter, and a girl in a blue dress is on pink rollerskates, and Piastri is under the pump.
“Not our best Sunday,” he said after finishing third at Imola.
You can spend all day swanning around here, saying “bonjour” and “go get ’em”, taking photos, drinking espressos, shopping till dropping, eating croissants, writing stories, trying to convince the boss you’re doing some work. Monaco seems giddy with its own beauty but Piastri isn’t in town for a joy ride. Perhaps he’ll walk the red carpets like Ishmael in the opening lines of Moby-Dick … perhaps a little grim about the mouth.
He was out of luck at Imola, hampered by McLaren’s tyre strategies, achingly slow pit stops and an ill-timed safety car. Verstappen’s raw aggression shook him up. After Piastri’s slowish start from pole position, the four-time world champion braked late and hurled his car at the lead in a desperate lunge he called, “sending it around the outside”. Then Verstappen unleashed more pace than Red Bull has delivered all year.
Ex-world champion Jacques Villeneuve said in commentary: “Piastri messed up that first corner. He got caught out sleeping. He should never have come out of that corner second.”
Melbourne’s 24-year-old braked too early and cautiously at turn one. Is he already trying to defend his championship lead? Stay out of trouble? Avoiding possible fender benders? Playing it safe?
Mercedes’ George Russell saw the gap afforded Verstappen and told his team, “F@#$# ing Piastri! What was he doing?”
Finishing behind Verstappen and McLaren teammate Lando Norris was Piastri’s worst day since he skidded out of contention at the Australian GP.
“I thought I had it pretty under control,” he said. “I just braked too early. I definitely would do something different, I’d brake about 10 metres later, probably. I live and learn.”
McLaren has produced the superior car this year but Villeneuve reckons the Red Bull garage is bolder. Worryingly for McLaren, Verstappen’s car is getting better. Piastri was stunned that his previously peerless vehicle was unable to make ground as one deflating lap followed another at Imola.
Despite slowing on old tyres, Piastri was allowed by McLaren to stay ahead of Norris for as long as possible. “(McLaren) show weakness, basically,” Villeneuve 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 it’d be as if 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?”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner praised Verstappen’s killer instinct. “That first corner was in it or bin it,” he 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.”
Horner added: “The start was pretty average. It was the first corner and I think maybe Oscar was more focused on George Russell and he left the slightest of gaps. Max just sent it. Again, he’s just so good in that situation. He sees a gap and it’s just so decisive for him.”
Piastri and Norris raced hard but fair. The team-first mantra remained genuine but Horner said their professional and personal relationship was bound to become strained. “You’ve got two drivers fighting for a world championship,” Horner said. “At some point, self-interest will always outweigh team interest. That’s the conflict.”
Piastri’s championship lead was whittled back to 13 points from Norris and 22 from Verstappen. “Max is in the championship, you don’t want to give him wins,” Villeneuve said. “That’s more points for him. 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.”
Any given Sunday can go askew in F1. “This was one of them,” Piastri said. “It was a good move by Max. Disappointing, obviously, but I think we made a few wrong calls after that anyway.
“Well done to Max and Red Bull. It was a good move but also they had pace today. I tried my best to hang on to second but just had nowhere near enough grip. So, third it is. I wasn’t overly concerned not to be in the lead … but then our pace just wasn’t as strong as I expected.”
Red Bull’s mechanical tinkering might finally have given Verstappen a car as reliable and powerful as the McLaren. He’s looking as upbeat and combative as ever before the daring Dutchman’s virtual home race. I’m not sure if Verstappen owns a chihuahua, or sprays perfume on it, but Monaco is a little old place he calls home.
“It’s been a very positive weekend for us,” he said. “We brought upgrades to the car and I think they’ve worked. We are definitely in a better window. There were high-speed corners at Imola but Monaco is very, very different.
“Let’s see how we are going to perform but last year was very difficult for us. I don’t expect it to be a lot easier this time around because there’s a lot of low-speed, but we’ll see.
“You can clearly see we are more competitive once we go to high-speed tracks … Monaco is one race on the calendar where you just try to do the best you can.”
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