Oscar Piastri pinpoints 'not right call' after Hungarian GP 'gamble'

Oscar Piastri has identified trying to undercut Charles Leclerc as potentially not the "right call" after losing out to Lando Norris in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver pushed his team-mate tantalisingly close at the Hungaroring but ultimately had to settle for second place, watching his F1 drivers' championship advantage slashed to nine points in the process.

Torn between an offset one-stop and a conventional two-stop strategy, the Australian went for the latter, whilst Norris opted for the former. Piastri called it a "gamble either way" after the race.

When asked to summarise his afternoon on the outskirts of Budapest, the eight-time grand prix winner acknowledged being on the "wrong side" of a tense and enthralling showdown to the finish line.

"I pushed as hard as I could," he said. "After I saw Lando going for a one [stop strategy], I knew I was gonna have to overtake on track, which is much easier said than done around here.

"So, yeah, tried a few things. It was a gamble either way. Today, unfortunately, we were just on the wrong side of it. The team did a great job. The car really came alive in the second half of the race. And yeah, cars been great all weekend. So, thank you to the team, and looking forward to a couple of weeks off."

Queried on whether it was a surprise to see Norris roll the dice with a one-stopper, having fallen to fifth at the start and struggling in fourth at that stage of the race, Piastri highlighted how the Briton did not have much to lose.

"Yes and no. I mean, at that point, he didn't really have much to lose, so it wasn't a huge surprise," he replied.

"Yeah, I don't know if trying to undercut Leclerc was the right call in the end, but yeah, we can go through it after."

In the dying stages, Piastri sent his MCL39 lunging down the inside of Norris'. He locked up, narrowly avoiding contact. 

"I think I needed to be at least a couple of tenths closer, which was going to take a mistake from Lando to achieve that," he stated in reflection of the incident.

"I felt like that was going to be my best chance. You never want to try and save it for the next lap, and then it never comes, so I thought I would at least try."