Oscar Piastri says it "hurts to be so close to a podium", afterthe Australian finished fourth in Sunday’s British Grand Prix. A raft of updates has transformed the previously recalcitrantMCL60, helping Piastri qualify third for the Silverstone event, just behindteammate Lando Norris. The two McLarens ran second and third for much of the race, butPiastri dropped behind Lewis Hamilton after having made a pit stop just beforethe deployment of the Safety Car, thereby losing time relative to others likeHamilton who pitted while the race was neutralised. Piastri ultimately finished fourth for his best F1 result todate, but said he was disappointed to have been robbed of a maiden podium finish. "It hurts to be so close to a podium. We were looking so good," Piastritold media, including RacingNews365.com . "We executed everything we could, we were pulling away from thecars behind, all to be one second too far behind pretty much when the Safety Carcame out. "So it hurts a little bit, but I'm so happy that I'mdisappointed with P4, as opposed to what it has been earlier in season."
Piastri talks up McLaren updates
The British Grand Prix was Piastri's first race in the upgradedMcLaren, after Norris had had first dibs on the new package at the previousround in Austria, and the Australian said there were more updates in the pipeline. "Not bad at all, and there's still a bit more to come, too," Piastrisaid when asked how his first race with McLaren's latest upgrades had gone. "I've got the new front wing next weekend, that Lando's had,which is exciting, [and a] couple more other bits. "Nice to know that we're fighting here, and we still have alittle bit more to come. "Clearly the upgrades are a massive step forward. I thinkthey're a good step forward over one lap, but the race pace is clearly wherewe've made a massive jump. "Going into the race, I was maybe slightly cautious thatwe might hit reverse a little bit like we have done previously, but ifanything, it was even stronger than Austria, so that was super exciting."
"Exciting" to battle Verstappen
Lining up third on the grid at Silverstone, Piastri almost got alongside pole man Max Verstappen as the Dutchman made a sluggish start, but ultimately had to back out of a move. The Australian added that he was encouraged at how closely behind the dominant Verstappen he and Norris had managed to follow, and said it was "exciting" to race with the reigning World Champion. "Pretty exciting, to be honest. When I got off the line, and I was like, 'Okay, I've got the best out of everyone here' and had to find somewhere to go, and ran out of space," said Piastri. "But I think the more exciting part was being able to hang on to the back of [Verstappen] for a few laps, and even for the rest of the race, it wasn't like he was stupidly quicker than us. "So that was very exciting, to be genuinely second quickest team today. Exceeded all our expectations. Nice to be back in front."
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