After the 2024 Italian GP, McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri took a dig at Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. The #81 driver missed out on winning the race at Monza, last weekend, and felt Stroll’s inability to give way during a blue flag – whilst chasing Charles Leclerc – contributed to the #16 driver just edging out the Aussie driver for the win.
In the post-race press conference, the 23-year-old said that Stroll acted like he had been driving in his first-ever go-kart race. According to revered F1 photojournalist, Kym Illman, the Canadian racing driver’s performance coach, Henry Howe has reached out to him since to clarify the incident.
Illman explained that Howe had sent him video footage from the incident. The footage showcased audio from the #18 driver describing how he was facing tire issues when the blue flags were waived to allow both, Sainz and Piastri to lap his AMR24.
“i had stroll driving like it was his first go-kart race and i don’t know what went through his brain when he saw the blue flags”
He is so funny pic.twitter.com/z47UIOkUr4
— × piastri’s propagandist (@M0NACULT) September 1, 2024
On his YouTube channel, Illman said, “Well, I actually got a message from Lance’s trainer, Henry Howe saying, ‘I’m not sure what he’s on about.’ He sent me a link to a video which had some audio from Lance saying that at that time he was having some issues with his front-left tire and feared it may well indeed explode.”
Piastri finished the race 2.664s behind Leclerc – who was on the alternate one-stop strategy. The Australian racing ace felt that had Stroll adhered to the blue flags in a timely fashion he would have gone onto register the second Grand Prix win of his career.
Did Lance Stroll cost Oscar Piastri and McLaren Italian GP win?
When Piastri came across the Aston Martin of Stroll, he had five laps to cover an eight-second deficit to Leclerc in the lead. But being stuck behind the AMR24 of the #18 driver cost him crucial time – almost the exact amount that was the gap between himself and Leclerc at the chequered flag.
How did Charles Leclerc pull this off!?
He was continuously putting lap times in the 1m23s from Lap 20 onwards to hold off Oscar Piastri.
To learn how he did this check out the full article by @Nauckas, link in bio. pic.twitter.com/XTbEnHu9gh
— Autosport (@autosport) September 4, 2024
PlanetF1 quoted the 23-year-old as explaining, “With the pace I had at the start, I think I was catching nearly two seconds a lap. Had a few people that weren’t very helpful. Stroll was driving like he was in his first go-kart race, so that cost a couple of seconds.”
Ultimately, the Woking-based team could not convert a front-row lockout into a victory for either of their drivers. Piastri finished the race in second place whilst his teammate, Lando Norris completed the podium in third.
