Piastri “thanking Safety Car drivers” for Qatar F1 sprint win

The McLaren driver converted his maiden pole position into his first victory in an action-packed sprint race but had to fight back after losing out to George Russell early on. 

Piastri, who started on the medium tyres, lost the lead to the fast-starting Russell, who gambled on softs, before reclaiming the position when the Mercedes driver’s tyres began to fade. 

The Australian’s run to victory was aided by two Safety Car periods; the first of which prevented Russell from building a bigger gap when his tyres were at their best, while the second enabled Piastri to use Russell as a buffer to a chasing Verstappen.

"A very stressful race," Piastri said. "When I saw all the soft guys come through at the start, I thought we were in a bit of trouble and then their tyres fell off pretty quickly.

"The Safety Cars were my friend today, definitely, once Max got behind me.

"But the pace was reasonable and, in a race where you had to manage a lot the tyres and cars on other compounds, I think we did a really good job, so we're very happy.

"Once [Max] got through into second I thought I was going to be in a bit of trouble, but the pace was good and I managed the tyres well.

"A first sprint win sounds pretty cool.”

Piastri conceded that the final Safety Car came as a welcome relief once he knew he had Verstappen on his tail. 

“That last Safety Car was pretty nice for me, I’ll be honest,” he added. 

“I knew that I had to try and get as much of a gap whilst Max was behind George as quickly as I could, which I managed to get out enough. And then the pace at the end was also pretty good too. 

“But once I think it was about 10 laps to go, eight laps to go at that point, I thought it might be a tough ask to the end. So I’m thanking the Safety Car drivers today.”