Piastri: The toughest race I’ve ever done

In Qatar, after winning the sprint, Oscar Piastri finished second in the Grand Prix, achieving the best result of his career…

Question: Oscar, how do you rate the results of this incredible weekend?
Oscar Piastri: Exceptional weekend. After qualifying on Friday I was a bit disappointed, but on Saturday it was as good as it could be. And second place on Sunday is the best we could achieve. So yes, I’m very happy. The team is proud that we managed to get the best out of the car this weekend.

Question: What helped you move from sixth place at the start to second today?
Oscar Piastri: I slowed down later and noticed others lagging behind. To be honest, I don’t know what happened. Of course I saw my opponents flying off the track and in the end I came second.

Q: In Japan you said the car didn’t have enough speed during the race. Did it go better this time?
Oscar Piastri: A little. We still have some work to do. This race was very different from the Japanese, with three pit stops it became a series of sprints.

Q: At the end of the race you were told to hold your position. Were you surprised? Did you control your pace afterwards?
Oscar Piastri: To be honest, I was a little surprised. But either way, I would have complied with the team’s request. There were a lot of concerns about tires, keeping track boundaries and so on. It is clear that the team wanted to save two places on the podium in this situation.

Question: What was it like in the cockpit?
Oscar Piastri: Very hot. I was already sweating before the start, before I put my helmet on. It’s just very hot. The reason is a combination of several factors: high temperature, humidity and also the fact that we did our best with three pit stops in each segment. And the nature of the circuit with many fast corners. This is the hardest race I have ever participated in.