Oscar Piastri finds 'silver lining' after 'pretty lonely' Singapore GP

Oscar Piastri has revealed that a late slow puncture on his McLaren turned out to be a blessing in disguise, helping him catch and pass Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the Singapore Grand Prix to claim fifth place.

Piastri crossed the line at Marina Bay nearly 50 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen in his Red Bull, with Hamilton taking sixth for Ferrari just over three seconds further back.

The Australian said the team had little more to give on a day when Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari set the pace at the front.

"That was definitely the most we could have done," said Piastri, speaking to media, including RacingNews365. "We didn't have the pace to do any more, and obviously here's a massive track position race.

"Max and Charles were very quick, clearly, and we seemed a little step behind Kimi, so it was more or less all we could do.

"I feel like personally I did a pretty good job. Obviously, the puncture was a bit of a shame, but ironically, I think it probably helped me get Lewis at the end. So there's a silver lining for everything."

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Piastri - 'I'd have been pretty disappointed'

Piastri explained that much of his afternoon made for a dull watch from the cockpit of his car, until the chase of Hamilton on fresher rubber gave him something to fight for in the closing laps against the seven-time F1 champion whose soft tyres were 44 laps old at the chequered flag.

"It's tough because once you get there, it doesn't take much to overheat the tyres, and you kind of get stuck at their pace," added Piastri.

"But I felt with how quickly I was catching, I would have been pretty disappointed in myself if I didn't get past. So, bit of excitement, which was good because otherwise it was a pretty lonely race.

"There's still a cap on the excitement because it was only for fifth place, but still good fun."