“Bowled everyone over at Turn One,” Oscar Piastri takes a sly dig at Lewis Hamilton and George Russell over their first lap Qatar GP crash

Oscar Piastri finished P2 for the first time in his career.

“Bowled everyone over at Turn One,” Oscar Piastri takes a sly dig at Lewis Hamilton and George Russell over their first lap Qatar GP crash

Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell (Images via IMAGO)

Oscar Piastri has hit the home run at Qatar this weekend. After winning his first sprint race yesterday, Piastri took home his second podium and first P2 finish in today’s race. At the end of the race, he was heard on the team radio taking a dig at the Mercedes duo whose crash helped him secure his podium.

Starting from P6, he gained four places in the start of the race itself. Piastri gained places when he went ahead on the inside during Lewis Hamilton’s and George Russell’s collision. After that, he showed extreme physical resilience and skill, culminating in his finishing P2. Piastri also labeled the race the toughest of his career due to the intense heat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RF4t7F5Tzo

After the race ended, he was heard thanking his team via radio. In the midst of that, he also took a dig at Mercedes, saying, “Nice assistance from whoever bowled everyone over at Turn One.”  This was not enough for the Australian as he was also heard in the cooldown room saying, “Thank you Mercedes.”

FS Video

Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris finished behind him on P3, making a McLaren double podium once again. Also, even after Russell was involved in a major collision at the start of the race, he fought till the end and finished P4.

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Oscar Piastri labels Qatar GP as the toughest race of his career

Today’s race at Qatar turned out to be one of the most challenging races of the season. With the tire management already making the drivers’ lives difficult, the intense heat only worsened it. Experienced drivers like Fernando Alonso were heard on their team radios asking their team to pour water on them during the pit stops. In this physically demanding race, 22-year-old Oscar Piastri took home a P2 finish.

OP and LN
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (Credits: trendradars.com)

In his post-race interview, Piastri said that it was probably the toughest race of his career. Apart from the extreme heat conditions, the new three-stop rule also affected the drivers. Piastri said the race was like 57 laps of qualifying due to the rule. All of the drivers were seen to be extremely tired after the race. Piastri was even spotted lying down in the cooldown room.

“Definitely the hardest race I’ve had in my life… With the three stops it was basically flat out. It was like 57 qualifying laps, which I feel like I have definitely done,” said Piastri.

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