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Piastri thought he could beat Verstappen

Piastri thought Verstappen could have been defeated in Austria

29 June at 12:35
1
  • Tim Kraaij

Oscar Piastri crossed the finish line of the sprint race in Austria in second place. The Australian could not really attempt to attack Max Verstappen, but did beat his teammate Lando Norris.

At the press conference, Piastri was asked if at any point he felt Verstappen was beatable. "I thought so, yes. He obviously had quite a good start compared to Lando and I, and then we kind of just managed to stay in the DRS and got to the back of him. Alex on the grid summed it up well, I was sitting there with my popcorn waiting for what was going to unfold. Obviously, just stayed patient and I managed to get Lando, but not quite enough to get Max, I just struggled a little bit in the second half of it. I think everyone was probably struggling with tyres a bit. Just didn't quite have the pace to keep challenging in the second half of the sprint."

Piastri had hopes for more

Despite the inferior pace, Piastri did manage to hold off his teammate, despite Piastri no longer having DRS from Verstappen. "It was tough. Once the car behind gets into the DRS, they have three shots at it. I think to be honest, the tyres at that point were so hot for everybody that the DRS wasn't having anywhere near as much of an impact as it did at the start of the race. The last few laps, it was a little bit more comfortable. But yes, it was a difficult sprint."

Later on Saturday, Formula 1 will be back in action. Then Oscar Piastri and the other F1 drivers have to get ready for another qualifying session. That one is for Sunday's Grand Prix. Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix will start at 16:00 local time.