Oscar Piastri was robbed of any chance of a maiden victory at the British Grand Prix by a dodgy strategy call.
Having run fourth and fifth in the early laps, the McLarens of Piastri and teammate Lando Norris came alive as rain began to fall across the Silverstone circuit.
Hunting in tandem, the pair got past Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on their way to the front.
READ MORE: ‘I’m still crying’: Hamilton breaks 945-day drought
READ MORE: ‘Shame’: SVG taken out in ‘gutting’ move by rival
READ MORE: Maguire calls out Tallis as Origin feud explodes
The pair were running one-two when the rain became too heavy for dry slick tyres. Piastri was tucked up behind Norris when the latter dived into the pits for intermediate tyres on lap 27.
Oscar Piastri pits for wet tyres as McLaren teammate Lando Norris goes past in the background. Getty
McLaren strategists elected against double-stacking Piastri, and sent him around on another. It proved a crucial decision – conditions deteriorated so much in that lap that by the time Piastri made it back to the pits, Norris had almost caught him back up.
Having been running less than a second behind Norris when the Brit pitted, Piastri emerged from his own stop more than 21 seconds behind him.
Piastri finished the race only 12.4 seconds behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Speaking after the race, Piastri didn’t throw his team under the bus – claiming the call was a “joint” decision – but admitted he wanted the decision reviewed by the team.
“I don’t think it gets any harder than that,” Piastri said after the race.
“I think there’s some things to review. I think double-stacking would have been the right call, but hindsight’s a wonderful thing.
By the time Piastri (left) pitted, Norris (right) had almost caught him. Fox Sports
“I think we need to see if we had any information that told us that was going to be a better choice. Obviously a little bit painful given the gap.”
Double-stacking is where the teams two cars are serviced one after the other. The trailing car – which was Piastri – can easily lose several seconds.
However, given F1 pitstops are generally less than three seconds, Piastri could have potentially eased off the back of his teammate throughout the lap prior to minimise risk of the double-stack.
Conditions deteriorated so much over the extra lap Piastri was left out that Norris on his fresh intermediates comfortably made up the time difference.
Piastri said he knew the call to stay out was wrong the moment he passed the pit entry.
The McLaren team elected against double-stacking Piastri behind teammate Lando Norris. Getty
“The last couple of corners were very, very tough,” he said.
“I could see on my dash that Lando was like five seconds behind me when I pitted, so I knew I was in a lot of trouble with him. I knew it was the wrong call basically instantly.
“I think we just need to review if we put enough weight on that decision. Obviously when the two cars are close like that you lose a lot of time doing a double-stack. The conditions were getting trickier but it was very, very hard to judge.
“It was only really half of the track that was really difficult, until the lap that I stayed out and then the whole track became difficult.
“In hindsight, double-stacking would have given a very good chance of winning.”
Once the track dried, Piastri pitted for fresh medium tyres and was among the quickest cars on track for the remaining laps.
McLaren had already compromised Piastri’s qualifying session when they sent him out on track too late. Getty
It was the second time in two days Piastri had been heavily compromised by McLaren’s strategy decisions. On Sunday morning (AEST), the team left it too late to send him out on track for his final run in qualifying.
It meant he had to drive quicker than normal on his outlap to ensure he crossed the line to start the lap before the clock hit zero.
He crossed the line only with only seconds in hand, but was barely half a second behind the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz ahead of him. While that gave him a boost on the straights, it meant he was significantly slowed in Silverstone’s fast corners.
After three back-to-back-to-back races, the F1 circus will enjoy a week off, before another double header commencing with the Hungarian Grand Prix before the mid-season break.