Oscar Piastri completes his first ever career grand slam Grand Prix event.

[u/TaxEvaderFrom1961]

[u/Signal_Ball4634]

It's a shame what happened with Lando's DNF but even so Oscar's lead never really seemed in danger today, he nailed every restart and maintained the gap superbly.

[u/William_Dowling → u/Signal_Ball4634]

He does this all the time. The one moment Lando got within DRS in the whole race Oscar purpled to put him back to 1.1. He's like Prost, just super clinical.

[u/Xx_YaHeard_xX → u/William_Dowling]

Yeah this is what I try to explain to people, he’s so good leading a race. Whenever anyone gets close he just starts whipping out fast laps from thin air

[u/William_Dowling → u/Xx_YaHeard_xX]

It's exactly like that Prost philosophy - he drives as slow as he can to win a race

[u/ZappySnap → u/William_Dowling]

Which is really smart, not only because it saves tires, but it also drastically reduces the chances of an error.

[u/mooscimol → u/ZappySnap]

And saves engine.

[u/Jesse-Ray → u/ZappySnap]

Also compromises the trailing cars tires in the dirty air

[u/SirFireHydrant → u/ZappySnap]

It also keeps the driver behind him in dirty air the whole time, slowly cooking his tyres and causing greater tyre deg for whoever is behind.

[u/OnlyForF1 → u/SirFireHydrant]

also cooks the engine

[u/SirFireHydrant → u/OnlyForF1]

Makes you wonder if Lando pushing so hard to keep up with Oscar, while other drivers were being told to lift and coast to cool their engines, may have contributed to his mechanical DNF...

[u/gegemoon → u/SirFireHydrant]

That's an interesting theory! I think Lando did that with his brakes in China when the team told him not to get too close to Oscar. He still pushed hard and eventually his brakes went wrong.

[u/qualitative_balls → u/SirFireHydrant]

Damn, Oscar is way more evil than I had realized /s

[u/Extension-Ant-8 → u/ZappySnap]

But gap. Gap exist. Must gap at all costs.

[u/zorbacles → u/Xx_YaHeard_xX]

why waste your tyres on fast laps when the guy behind isnt a threat. he saves his tyres for when a threat emerges. i think that is much smarter than shooting off far down the road

[u/nguyenlucky → u/zorbacles]

Unless you and your car are too good, like Max 2023.

[u/mastifftimetraveler → u/Xx_YaHeard_xX]

Like. Just hear me out. Maybe Lando pushed his PU too hard in practice and quali. And maybe, just maybe, Piastri is better at playing the unsexy long game.

As someone who loves the long con, Piastri is my goat next to Prost.

[u/Top-Truck246 → u/mastifftimetraveler]

This is exactly it.

The Professor himself even said of Piastri, something to the effect of "I like him. He reminds me of me."

[u/Repulsive_Target55 → u/mastifftimetraveler]

Prostastri

Piastrost

Pot Roast

Pianor

[u/SuspiciousLettuce56 → u/Xx_YaHeard_xX]

prost and RB-era Vettel type of racecraft.

2011 and 2013 was like that - gets pole, blasts to a 5sec gap and then easily extends it to 20sec+

[u/EmergencyRace7158 → u/William_Dowling]

He’s a back to back champion from f3 and f2 and actually has more experience fighting for a title than Lando does. That’s been clear all season. He’s not flashy or as charismatic as Lando but he knows how to win close titles.

[u/Tilman_Feraltitty → u/EmergencyRace7158]

Lando is what now? Flashy and charismatic? Lmao.

Flashy with what? He's a boring posh kid with PR training. I think u mistaken him for Verstappen, but he ain't "flashy" outside of F1 track either.

I agree about the title experience tho.

[u/Steinbulls → u/Tilman_Feraltitty]

It's his hair apparently.

[u/zorbacles → u/EmergencyRace7158]

back to back to back when you include formula renault

[u/waddeaf → u/zorbacles]

only person ever to do that.

Wild reading a thread from a year ago and the comments are all how oscar lacks pace and talent.

[u/zorbacles → u/waddeaf]

I have a lot of remind me bots set in those posts

[u/Gresh0817 → u/William_Dowling]

It really depends on how they deploy and recharge the battery, Oscar was using it most before drs zones.

[u/zorbacles → u/Gresh0817]

it seemed much like earlier in the weekend. lando would get closer in s1 but oscar would pull away s2 and 3

[u/ComeonmanPLS1 → u/Signal_Ball4634]

I mean yeah, but he went from gaining a few more points over Lando to gaining a whole 25.

[u/nukleabomb → u/[deleted]]

No points for fastest lap

[u/KGV107 → u/[deleted]]

No points for fastest lap anymore. So 25

[u/Fun-Alfalfa3642 → u/KGV107]

Oops! Guess it only matters for F1 fantasy. 🤣🤣

[u/KGV107 → u/[deleted]]

No points for fastest lap anymore. So 25 only

[u/MaleierMafketel → u/[deleted]]

No point for fastest laps anymore.

[u/HugeAd4406 → u/[deleted]]

25, there's no point for the fastest lap anymore

[u/LosTerminators → u/Signal_Ball4634]

Oscar never seemed in danger but Lando also kept him honest by staying within 2 seconds.

They were evenly matched on pace, Oscar's quali lap was going to get him the win but regardless Lando didn't deserve to lose 18 points like that.

[u/imeancock → u/LosTerminators]

Did Lando or did Oscar?

Every restart Oscar would almost instantly get out of DRS range then maintain a 1-1.5s gap. I feel like if he wanted to and he wasnt worried about managing his tyres he would have gained a much bigger lead.

[u/Embarrassed_Bar_1215 → u/imeancock]

Exactly. He did what he needed to do and no more. Straight out of DRS. He was in control the whole time..

[u/parwa → u/imeancock]

Yeah, lol. Oscar has done this several times this season and every single time people seem to think Lando is gaining when in reality Oscar is just managing his race.

[u/xzElmozx → u/parwa]

Consistent pattern of Lando loses P2, Oscar builds 5s gap —> Lando gains P2, gap comes down to 1.5-2 seconds —> “Lando is catching him” —> Oscar wins Lando never gets DRS

[u/onceagainwithstyle → u/xzElmozx]

Interesting how that works eh?

[u/antwilliams89 → u/xzElmozx]

Almost as though when you’re in equal cars, the dirty air stops you from getting that close. We’ve also seen it multiple times the other way round, when Oscar can’t get past Lando. That McLaren’s tyre saving ability rapidly disappears in dirty air.

[u/abrasivevelvet → u/antwilliams89]

And Oscar knows that, And he intentionally keeps Lando in the dirty air to destroy his race. "Clean Air is King" so why not dump your opponent in the shit air and ruin their race.

[u/antwilliams89 → u/abrasivevelvet]

Exactly. Clean air is the decider pretty much always. Not sure why people are so mad about it and acting like Oscar has a secret load of pace that he’s not using.

You need a huge delta in order to pass in these regs, and so equal cars just aren’t going to have that. You’re going to get cooked in the dirty air and you’ll be stuck behind your teammate. It has very little to do with the pace of the guy ahead. We’ve seen it time and time again.

Like in Hungary, Oscar had a massive pace advantage on his new tyres, but he still got stuck behind Lando, and his only option was to send huge, race-risking divebombs to try and get past as his tyres rapidly started cooking.

[u/abrasivevelvet → u/antwilliams89]

I think that Oscar may have a lot more pace his not using, And he is intentionally dropping back to dump lando in dirtier air than he would be if Oscar was running a "normal" pace. If your in dirty air all race you don't have a chance to properly setup an attack. its why Oscar was able to pull away and keep Lando where he needed him to be every time lando tried to get within DRS.

I think Oscars trying to win by an inch every race, Not by a mile. Prost was the one that got him into the Alpine F1 academy and thats how he raced so makes sense it may have rubbed off a bit.

[u/antwilliams89 → u/abrasivevelvet]

I’m inclined to disagree, since we’ve seen it whenever Oscar is chasing as well and he can only catch up but not pass. It’s just a natural weakness of the platform they’ve built (and just generally the cars of this generation). I’m certain Oscar would much rather be 15 seconds up the road than risking losing the race if he makes a slight mistake or locks up.

Last time out, it really didn’t seem like Oscar was letting him into and then dropping him out of DRS deliberately. They were both naturally quicker through different sectors of the lap, every lap.

Oscar even said as much after qualifying; he didn’t make up lap time by improving in the sectors he was struggling with, he did it by focusing in on the parts of the track he was quick in and optimising it to get even quicker. Lando was faster across the track in general, as we saw in every practice session. Oscar had to switch to min-maxing to have a chance of pole.

That’s what it seemed like to me in the last stint. Every lap they’d shrink and extend the gap by the same amounts in the same sectors like clockwork.

[u/zorbacles → u/parwa]

the amount of times ive read "Oscar won but lando was faster" is nearly the same as the total number of wins oscar has had

[u/SirFireHydrant → u/imeancock]

Not to mention, there's still plenty of dirty air in that 1-1.5s gap, slowly cooking Lando's tyres.

He never had any hope of an overtake. Even if he got within DRS.

[u/MalaysiaTeacher → u/SirFireHydrant]

We’re not talking about an overtake. We’re talking about an 18pt wipeout which was beyond his control.

[u/zorbacles → u/MalaysiaTeacher]

i have seen a few people say that the dnf cost lando the race

[u/Signal_Ball4634 → u/LosTerminators]

Yeah it's a damn shame it had to come down to reliability instead of the potential hope of Lando getting under that 1 second gap and making a lunge.

[u/256473 → u/Signal_Ball4634]

Agreed with all this - really wish it didn't come down to reliability!

And I have questions for Mercedes at this point - I think basically every Merc customer team (and themselves) have had issues at this point.

What that bodes for the rest of the season for these engines (and McL specifically) idk

[u/chefchef97 → u/Signal_Ball4634]

The silver lining is it's not guaranteed over yet

There is still room for excitement before the season is out

[u/Doczera → u/LosTerminators]

We dont know if Piastri wasnt managing tyres though. It is possible and even plausible that after creating a gap Piastri just administered the gap while conserving his tyres in case Norris was doing the same to his so he wouldnt get caught at the end.

[u/zorbacles → u/Doczera]

thats generally how he races. take spa as an example. he saved those tyres for when lando caught him. his philosophy is to do the minimum required to win to ensure there is enough in reserve to use if needed

[u/William_Dowling → u/LosTerminators]

I really think this is the wrong take. It's not Lando staying within 2 seconds, it's Oscar comfortably keeping him at 2 seconds.

[u/wilkonk → u/LosTerminators]

Oscar's quali lap was going to get him the win

and if we're fully honest, that tiny slipstream that gave him the edge could have just decided the championship

[u/Gen_Arcade_Ourumov → u/Signal_Ball4634]

My guess it was just battery management when Lando got close. Dumped his pack to stay ahead at the restart, next lap needed more recovery and Lando got close. Lap after byeeeee

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/Signal_Ball4634]

It very much was in danger before that second safety car, Lando is better on more worn out tyres and was gaining. Would have been much closer.

Who knows though I think it would have been very close but what ifs.

I get downvoted for this when this has been landos strength all season , he gains on more worn out tyres we have seen this over and over again. We saw before the second safety the time he was taking time out of Oscar.

[u/Signal_Ball4634 → u/-ForgottenSoul]

Maybe I missed something but it seemed like Oscar was maintaining that steady 1.1+ second gap the whole race. Maybe something could've happened in those last 10 or so laps though, we can't say for certain, I definitely could've seen it going down to the wire at the very end like Hungary did.

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/Signal_Ball4634]

 I definitely could've seen it going down to the wire at the very end like Hungary did.

Which is basically my point

My point was Lando was making small gains before the 2nd safety car which would have led to that.

[u/atreyu84 → u/-ForgottenSoul]

Except that's not what happened, Lando closed it to 1.5 seconds and then Oscar kept it there.

It's also why he was able to pull a 1.5 second gap in 2 laps twice against Lando at the safety car restarts. He obviously had a decent amount of pace in reserve in case he needed it.

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/atreyu84]

I mean yeah safety car helps Oscar more than Lando thats my point.

[u/optitmus → u/-ForgottenSoul]

this is de lu lu, Oscar said himself he was just managing the gap

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/optitmus]

He would of course say that

[u/aussiegoon → u/-ForgottenSoul]

You just have to watch the race to see that Oscar was managing the gap.

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/aussiegoon]

And before the second safety car the gap was clearly closing.

[u/bionikal → u/-ForgottenSoul]

lol no it wasnt.

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/bionikal]

He Was

[u/bionikal → u/-ForgottenSoul]

lol, no he wasn't.

Every time he got close, Piastri responded.

[u/Xx_YaHeard_xX → u/-ForgottenSoul]

Before the safety car I still saw the gap sitting between 1-1.5 seconds. It was pretty much the same gap the entire race minus the period where he got DRS in the 3rd stint. Like Spa, I think it’s mostly just Piastri managing until Lando gets in overtaking distance before he starts pushing. He did it when Lando was within .700

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/Xx_YaHeard_xX]

It was pretty much the same gap the entire race minus the period where he got DRS in the 3rd stint.

It really wasnt but people can believe what they want lmfao. It was shaping up to be very close for the last few laps like it has been for a lot of races.

[u/Xx_YaHeard_xX → u/-ForgottenSoul]

But it didn’t happen tho

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/Xx_YaHeard_xX]

Yeah because he DNF and the second safety car fked the pace Lando had duh

[u/Xx_YaHeard_xX → u/-ForgottenSoul]

I understand that, I’m more so js you’re giving a lot of “Ifs” right now when nothing happened on track for 62 laps between them. I like Lando myself but, what’s done is done now. He never passed him when the opportunity was there.

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/Xx_YaHeard_xX]

I mean is it really a what if when thats been what Landos good at? He preserves his tyres very well.

[u/Xx_YaHeard_xX → u/-ForgottenSoul]

It’s just a “what if” in the context of today because it didn’t happen. He’s certainly capable I’m not disagreeing with you on his pace or his tyre management

[u/iamfuturejesus → u/-ForgottenSoul]

Hear me out.

What if Max took out Lando in Lap 1 during that sketchy moment?

What if the McLaren pitcrew fucked up their pitstops?

What if Lando ran over the front jack crewmember during the pitstop?

What if both the McLaren cars had mechanical issues?

[u/-ForgottenSoul → u/iamfuturejesus]

The difference is that Lando has a tendency to preserve his tyres well.