Formula 1 championship leader Oscar Piastri has shown a rare chink in his usually unflappable armour – his old team.
The McLaren driver finished second at the Austrian Grand Prix, unable to catch teammate Lando Norris who took the win to narrow the Australian’s lead to 15 points.
Piastri had a thrilling squabble with Norris to start the raceGetty SkyBut Franco Colapinto’s intervention stopped him making another challenge[/caption]The pair staged a feisty encounter which showed signs of blowing up early on before pitstops separated them.
However, the closing stages saw Piastri’s fresher tyres allow him to hunt down the Brit, only to twice face obstacles.
On lap 54, the 24-year-old was readying to lap Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsuonda who were squabbling for 15th, and he inadvertently got involved.
Colapinto passed Tsuonda into turn three, but the Japanese switched back in front, and when Colapinto tried to re-take the slip stream, he hadn’t spotted Piastri beside him.
The Argentine pushed the championship leader onto the grass and nearly out of the race, a moment Piastri hadn’t let go of 16 laps later when the race was over and it had hurt his chances of catching Norris.
In a moment not caught on the live broadcast but instead on Piastri’s onboard on F1TV, he told his race engineer: “Alpine still managed to find a way to f*** me over all these years later.”
The comments had plenty of spice with Piastri’s history with Alpine infamous in the paddock.
The rising star was initially signed as an Alpine driver in 2020 and won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 feeder series back-to-back at the first time of asking – a feat that’s reserved for the very best drivers out there.
After the second of those achievements, Alpine remarkably didn’t bring him up to F1 for the 2022 season with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon already signed.
F2 rules stipulate that champions cannot compete in the series again, so Piastri spent a year on the sidelines despite being the best driver not on the grid.
Piastri was previously contracted to Alpine, but has become a megastar at McLarenGettyHowever, sensing an opportunity, McLaren pounced and signed the Melbourne native in a deal that later ended up in court as Alpine tried to keep him on board.
Piastri had the last laugh, winning seven times in a McLaren as Alpine struggle in midfield.
He’s also currently fighting to become Australia’s third world champion and it appears that just teammate Norris is in the way.
Reigning four-time champion Max Verstappen was taken out of the Austrian race on lap one by Kimi Antonelli and now has a 61-point gap to Piastri in third.
Norris, meanwhile, closed the gap on the title leader to 15 points, and if things go his way at home in Silverstone next time out, he could re-take the title lead.
Piastri’s chances of taking the lead were also damaged by a squabble between Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto in the final laps, but it was the Colapinto incident that drew the most ire.
Piastri’s title lead took a knock with the help of ColapintoFormer F1 driver Karun Chandhok commented: “That was unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable.”
David Coulthard added: “Totally unacceptable – if you’re a lap down then you’ve got to get out of the way.
“The rules are the rules. Their race engineers should have made them aware.”
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