Piastri identifies learning opportunity from Hungarian GP 'killer'

Oscar Piastri has pinpointed tyre degradation as the factor which 'killed' his hopes of a Formula 1 podium finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix. From fourth on the grid, Piastri leapfrogged both pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and teammate Lando Norris at the start to run second in the opening laps at the Hungaroring behind leader Max Verstappen. While Norris was able to secure a second straight runner-up finish to Verstappen, Piastri slipped back during the Grand Prix, being undercut by Norris and then passed by both Sergio Perez and Hamilton as he slipped to fifth. But despite the troubles with tyre degradation, the rookie has spotted a potential area to learn from how the race played out.

Piastri's learning chance

"Tyre degradation was the killer for me," Piastri told media including RacingNews365. "I'm not 100% sure why [that is] yet, but it is something for me to look at. "This is one of the first races where I've had a race with so much degradation and multiple pitstops so there is plenty for me to learn. "That was the sole key to my race. I made life easy for myself in the first stint and then it kind of unravelled from there. "So there are plenty of things to try and improve on, but to have the struggles that I did, and still come away with a top five is quite a nice position to be in." At the first round of pitstops, McLaren opted to pit Norris first even though he was running behind Piastri in second place, giving the British driver the undercut once Piastri had pitted himself. This goes against the usual rule teams use by giving the car ahead on track the preferential strategy - but Piastri conceded it did not make much difference to his race. "The undercut was a lot bigger than we expected, but at the end of the day, it didn't change my race," he said. "I clearly didn't have the pace to stay with Lando or challenge him, but the biggest takeaway is to look into the tyre degradation and management. "You can do the best starts and first stints in the world, but if you can't hang on for the next stint, it doesn't matter."