Oscar Piastri Admits He Has ‘No Answers’ for a Sudden Pace Loss That Cost Him a Podium at the Dutch Grand Prix

• Oscar Piastri says he doesn’t “have any answers” for a pace loss that dropped him to a lonely sixth in the Dutch Grand Prix
• The Australian overtook George Russell at the restart and ran in podium contention before a slow pit stop and a fading first stint undid his race
• Team principal Andrea Stella says the result was “not a fair reflection” of the pace Piastri showed across the Zandvoort weekend

Oscar Piastri arrived at Zandvoort in promising form and left with more questions than answers. The McLaren driver pulled off a bold overtake on Mercedes’ George Russell at the restart, ran competitively into the early laps of the Dutch Grand Prix, then faded to a lonely sixth place by the finish.

Asked to explain what happened, Piastri had nothing to offer. “I don’t know why, plenty to look into,” he said.

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A Race That Started Well

The race began in tricky, rain-affected conditions. Max Verstappen crashed at the banked final corner in the opening laps, bringing out a red flag and setting up a mid-race restart. Piastri used the stoppage to switch to hard tyres, a call that put him in position to pass Russell when the race resumed.

“I think the first lap was good, or after the red flag was good, and then the first stint felt okay, and then after that I had nothing,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1.

A slow pit stop appeared to undo his race from there. Piastri slipped backwards through the field, eventually overtaken by both Ferraris before crossing the line in sixth, behind race winner and team-mate Lando Norris.

“I Don’t Really Have Any More Answers”

Piastri identified the pace itself as the culprit. “The pace,” he said, before adding: “I don’t really have any more answers than that at the moment.”

In a separate interview, Piastri said “yes” when asked whether he had been surprised by his lack of pace given team-mate Lando Norris’ performance in Zandvoort, but conceded that he “unfortunately” had no idea why it had happened.

A Weekend That Belonged to Norris

Piastri’s afternoon was a stark contrast to that of Norris, who converted pole position into a second consecutive Grand Prix victory. The reigning world champion has now won back-to-back races either side of Formula 1’s summer break, first in Hungary and then in the Netherlands, both after McLaren brought fresh upgrades to the MCL40.

Piastri crossed the line 32.332 seconds behind his team-mate, more than half a minute off a Norris who himself finished 11 seconds clear of runner-up Kimi Antonelli. Norris’ win also pulled him to within 83 points of championship leader Antonelli, with Russell now second in the standings and Hamilton third on equal points.

McLaren’s campaign remains on track regardless of Piastri’s afternoon. Norris’ win keeps the team firmly in the fight at both ends of the championship, even with Piastri, a nine-time race winner this season, still searching for answers of his own.

Pushed on whether the team’s run of successful updates gives him hope that his own form will turn around, Piastri said: “Yeah, definitely, I hope so, but at the moment it’s been pretty challenging.”

Stella Defends His Driver

Team principal Andrea Stella was more forgiving of Piastri’s weekend than the results sheet suggests it should be. He said Piastri’s sixth-place finish was “not a fair reflection of the competitiveness he demonstrated throughout the weekend,” and added that he is confident there is “more potential that we can extract” from the Australian.

Formula 1 moves to Monza next for the Italian Grand Prix, a very different test of straight-line speed compared with Zandvoort’s flowing, banked corners. Piastri will hope the outing gives him a clearer look at whether Sunday’s pace loss was a one-off or something more persistent.

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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