After finishing a disappointing ninth at his home race in Australia last weekend, Oscar Piastri showed his class at the Chinese GP to claim his third Grand Prix win. At no point did the 23-year-old seem troubled by those behind and won the race in the end by a decent margin of over nine seconds from his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
The win also helped Piastri jump to fourth in the standings with 34 points and reduce his teammate’s lead to just 10. Despite registering such an important result early on in the season and not letting Norris extend his championship lead, Piastri was very composed after the race.
The Australian credited his previous two wins in Hungary and Azerbaijan as the reason why he did not feel too emotional. “I think this weekend’s been maybe less emotional than the first two wins I’ve had, but definitely more satisfying,” he said in the post-race press conference when asked how was this victory different from the previous two he had.
Piastri may have felt that this win in Shanghai was less emotional than his previous two victories as this race was a relatively less stressful affair for him with no chaos. Particularly nothing compared to what he experienced in Hungary.
Piastri faced immense stress in winning his first two Grand Prix
The Australian won his maiden Grand Prix in Hungary last year after the McLaren team orders fiasco. Although Piastri did everything perfectly in that race—got the lead from Norris and then controlled the race—McLaren made a mess with their strategy.
Even though Piastri had the lead and deserved the preference from the team when it came to strategy, the Woking-based outfit surprisingly decided to pit Norris first. As a result, Norris undercut the Aussie to take the lead and then McLaren literally had to beg the Briton to give the position back to his teammate.
With such being the circumstances that led to Piastri’s victory, he was obviously not too happy about it. Even Norris revealed in the latest season of Drive to Survive that he felt like “s***” after Piastri did not get to really celebrate his maiden F1 win.
Lando Norris says he is not proud that McLaren’s team orders drama in Hungary overshadowed teammate Oscar Piastri’s maiden win.#BBCF1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/HQP73cjt9r
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 25, 2024
Meanwhile, as for Piastri’s second victory, it came under completely different circumstances in Azerbaijan. Despite not having the quickest car around the streets of Baku on the day, the Melbourne-born driver defended brilliantly from Ferarri’s Charles Leclerc to claim his second win.
In Shanghai, though, it was a straightforward job for Piastri for two reasons: firstly, he had the fastest car and he had taken full advantage of the same to secure pole position start—his maiden Grand Prix pole. All in all, it was his race to lose.
Piastri reflected on his flawless race in China
Piastri almost had the perfect race weekend in China as he claimed second position in the sprint on Saturday before cruising to the Grand Prix win on Sunday. This helped him score a solid 32 points after managing just two in his home race in Australia. Piastri believes this was his “most complete” race weekend.
“Obviously, I think, you know, it’s always a pretty good day when you cross the line first, that’s obvious. But I think for me this has been the most satisfying, not just race, but weekend for myself,” he explained. “You know, I think the two wins I had previously were very different, and I think this one’s been the most complete”.
Now, the Australian driver will hope to deliver a similar performance in the Japanese GP, which takes place two weeks later. If Piastri manages to win the race at Suzuka, he could not only close the gap to Norris, but even take the lead in the championship if the Briton finishes third or lower.
