The Australian was knocked back in an opening-corner incident that saw Liam Lawson clip the side of his McLaren while avoiding George Russell’s Mercedes, pushing Piastri out of position and leaving him to fight back from seventh.
“I felt like I was one of the only people that actually braked to make the corner and got barged out of the way,” he said when asked about it by SkySportsF1.
“Apparently that’s fine.”
Piastri’s recovery drive included an early pass on Isack Hadjar and a double undercut that vaulted him ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, before he crossed the line in fifth and was later promoted to fourth when a five-second penalty was applied to Kimi Antonelli for a start-line infringement.
Despite his recovery, the 24-year-old was blunt about the execution of his race.
“Just little lockups here and there and that was it really,” he said.
“It’s maybe not my favourite circuit of the year, but, you know, I’ve got plenty of tracks that aren’t my favourites that have been good this year. So I don’t think it’s anything to do with that.
“Just pretty bad start, took a while to find the rhythm, and then just got stuck behind Antonelli then for a long time as well which hampered our pace quite a lot.”
Despite showing strong speed in clean air, Piastri said the overall performance never felt settled, describing the race as “eventful” from start to finish.
The result means his championship deficit to team-mate Lando Norris has now grown to 30 points, with 58 still available across Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Piastri acknowledged that the damage from Vegas leaves his championship hopes hanging by a thread.
“Hopefully,” he said when asked if he could cut into Norris’s lead next week.
“But I mean obviously I need more than that now. So I’m just going to go into the next two weeks trying to be as prepared as I can, have the best weekends I can.
“It would be nice to get some good results on the board to finish the year, but, you know, the championship picture is what it is.
“So yeah, we’ll see what I can do.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella suggested Piastri must treat the final two rounds with an all-or-nothing mindset.
“My view is that mathematics is what counts,” he said.
“So Oscar needs to go into the two final races with the will to win them and take it from there.
“It’s still a very exciting and interesting finale of the season.”
Piastri won the Qatar sprint in 2023 and has historically performed well at the Lusail circuit, but to stay alive in the championship must outscore Norris by at least five points next weekend.
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