Oscar Piastri was left fuming after a track limits violation robbed him of the third fastest lap in Saturday’s Austrian Grand Prix qualifying at the Red Bull Ring.
During his final flyer in the top-ten shootout, Piastri set a scorching time that put him in provisional P3, just behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen and McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
However, his joy was short-lived as the stewards deemed him to have exceeded track limits at Turn 6, deleting his lap time. The sanction relegated him down to a disappointing seventh on the grid.
Piastri considered the alleged infraction as particularly puzzling given the extensive work undertaken at the Red Bull Ring to address track limit issues ahead of this weekend’s event.
The 2023 race saw a staggering 1,200 violations, prompting the addition of gravel traps at key corners, including Turn 6, and the use of A.I. to help monitor track limit breaches.
The Aussie felt that he had stayed within the track boundaries while his McLaren team was reportedly set to question the stewards on their decision.
“For me, it is embarrassing,” a visibly angry Piastri reacted. “We do all this work on track limits, put gravel in places and I didn’t even go off the track, I stayed on the track,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“It was probably my best Turn 6 and it gets deleted.
“I don’t know why they’ve spent hundreds of thousands or millions trying to change the last two corners when there are other corners you can go off at, but anyway, everyone else stayed on the track, and I didn’t.”
Piastri’s disappointment was also rooted in the fact that he had put in a special effort to carry his car to the absolute limit without exceeding it.
“It was the best I took Turn 6, I was right on the limit of the track, and I think that is what everyone wants to see,” he added.
‘We’ve spent so much effort trying to get rid of these problems, and there is no reason this corner should be an issue for track limits, especially when you stay on the track like I did.
“Obviously being the only one it happened to, I’m probably more vocal about it right now, but it is embarrassing that you see us pushing to the limit of what we can do, and if I am one centimetre wider, I am in the gravel and completely ruin my lap anyway.”
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Piastri fumes over ‘embarrassing’ track limit lap deletion F1i.com.
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