Oscar Piastri reveals McLaren Monza struggle: 'Never a great sign'

Oscar Piastri has revealed that he "struggled" during the opening stages of the Italian Grand Prix, before finding great pace deep into his first stint, something he desribed as "never a great sign". 

Piastri started in third but quickly fell behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who made an aggressive start at Monza. 

The championship leader performed two incredible overtakes on the Monegasque before managing to hold onto third, before setting off into the distance. 

He never got close enough to Lando Norris in second, while Max Verstappen was a considerable distance in the lead. As a result, Piastri's lead has reduced to 31 points.

"Yeah, difficult beginning, definitely," said Piastri. "I think maybe not my best first couple of laps. We seemed to have pretty good pace for the first couple of laps, compared to Charles.

"And then I could get past, pretty lonely race from there. Just struggled a little bit through the first part of the race. 

"The car wasn't exactly how I liked. Once the tyres went away, it actually got a bit better, which is never a great sign. So yeah, happy with the points, and I'll take it."

Both McLaren drivers ran deep into the race before making their only pit-stop, with Piastri's pace having strengthened the worse his tyres became.

Crucially, Piastri was pitted first by the Woking-based outfit and moved ahead of Norris following a slow stop for his team-mate, but was instructed to return the position.

Despite being unsure why, Piastri followed the team's order and settled for third after a tricky afternoon.

"I mean, we went so long that the soft seemed like a good tyre to put on," added Piastri. "And, yeah, we were just staying out for safety cars if we got any. 

"But eventually Max got back into our pit window, so there wasn't any point staying out much longer. And, yeah, a little incident at the end. But that's okay."