Martin Brundle drops worrying Oscar Piastri ‘broken’ observation
Oscar Piastri was left dejected after McLaren threw away a win in Qatar.
Martin Brundle observed how Oscar Piastri was “broken” after missing out on victory at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Piastri was left shellshocked after McLaren’s strategy blunder cost him a likely win in Qatar and opened the door for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to claim a victory that has set up a three-wide title showdown at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
McLaren’s failure to pit Piastri under an early Safety Car left him needing to pass Verstappen on track, but he was unable to overturn an 18-second deficit to the four-time world champion and had to settle with second.
Piastri said he was “speechless” over team radio after the chequered flag and was visibly downbeat as he criticised McLaren’s decision during his parc ferme interview with Brundle.
"Of course they should have both come in, or they should have split the strategy. Hindsight is a wonderful thing,” Brundle told Sky Sports F1. “They’ve made a key error on that and it’s cost the team an important victory.
"I was trying to get some words out of Oscar after the race. He was broken, because he’s dominated this weekend. He’s comfortably the fastest driver around this track in his McLaren.”
Piastri left feeling ‘c**p’ after lost win
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 in the media pen after the race, Piastri admitted to feeling dejected after losing a deserved victory.
"I haven't spoken to anyone but I feel pretty c**p as you can imagine. I don't know what to say,” he explained.
"We didn't get it right with the strategy. The pace was very strong. I didn't put a foot wrong. Just a shame.
"I left it [whether to pit] in the team's hands to decide what the best strategy was. They had more information than I do. But, yeah…"
The result leaves Piastri third in the championship and 16 points behind teammate Lando Norris heading into next weekend’s Abu Dhabi finale.
"I will just try like I did this weekend,” he said. “I was more than good enough to dominate this weekend and if I can do the same thing in Abu Dhabi, I will be a happy man.”
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