Australian driver Oscar Piastri was left to rue another missed opportunity for his first Formula 1 Grand Prix win of the season, but with just his 4th podium finish of his career, there were plenty of positives to take away from Austria.
For all the naysayers who have been shrieking about the supposed predictability of Formula 1 this season, the final standings of the Austrian Grand Prix will have certainly shut them up… at least for another week.
And in an F1 race that seemingly had it all, it was the top two drivers this season who missed out on their grand-stand finish after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris made contact in the final laps of the race, with both drivers taking damage, opening up the podium for the pursuing pack.
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What happened at the Austrian Grand Prix 2024?
As the off-track mates, on-track rivals took each other out of the Austrian Grand Prix, McLaren’s up-and-coming driver Oscar Piastri saw a golden opportunity to make up some lost ground. The Australian showed serious pace in qualifying and would have secured a top 3 position on the starting grid to Sunday’s race were it not for a penalty incurred for exceeding track limits that saw Piastri drop down to seventh.
Piastri called the decision “embarrassing” but was able to deliver swift justice of his own after the grid ahead of him opened up with less than 10 laps of the Austrian Grand Prix to go, turning a lowly seventh-place start into just his fourth Formula 1 podium of his burgeoning career.
“I know that’s only my fourth podium in F1 but being so close to a win hurts a little bit! It’s really good points, of course, and we were very strong in the second half of the race, so overall I’m happy with a podium in that regard – but when it’s so close at the end, you can’t help but feel disappointed,” Oscar Piastri said.
Oscar Piastri secures a podium finish in Austria
As Norris and Verstappen made contact, Piastri pulled off a sensational move to pass Carlos Sainz into second and had the race leader George Russell in his sights. If only the young Australian had more laps to play with in Austria, we could be talking about his first Grand Prix win of his career.
But Piastri’s strong finish in Austria has buoyed the British racing team’s position in the Constructors’ and closed the gap on Ferrari and Red Bull ahead of the British Grand Prix next weekend.