McLaren admits Piastri strategy mistake

Hamilton got ahead of Piastri through pit strategy, boxing for a second set of hard compound tyres on Lap 33.

Before his stop, the seven-time champion sat eighth, one spot behind Piastri, who took his second stop on Lap 34. It was a small but telling difference.

As the McLaren driver rejoined the track, Hamilton was able to pass him, moving into a seventh-place he would hold to the finish.

“We should have should have but we didn’t do it and something for us to review,” Stella conceded when asked if McLaren should have called Piastri in a lap earlier.

Piastri added: “I think there was a few things in the race that we needed to do a little bit better in terms of pit stops and strategy.

“I think it was a little bit closer than it needed to be and obviously, we lost out on that.

“I tried my best to stay in front, but just didn’t have any grip on those hards coming out of the pits.”

Once trailing Hamilton, the Australian admitted that he knew his chances of recovering the position were slim.

“When I battled him out of the pits, I really put a lot of heat into my tyres, so that took a bit of time to settle that back in.

“With these tyres being so sensitive, potentially you pay the price through the whole stint, but I think even when he was behind he looked quick.

“It’s just, you know, with the dirty air with these cars, as soon as you start getting a little bit closer, it’s tricky.

“So I think the pace was okay at the end, but I think for the whole race, to be honest, it was pretty even. Maybe Lewis was a little bit quicker.”

Despite his disappointment in losing seventh, Piastri viewed eighth as a positive start to the year.

“We will definitely take it,” he said.

“The pace was more or less how I thought it would pan out.

“We’re I think were very close with Mercedes, Ferrari seem a bit of a step ahead, Red Bull a clear step ahead.

”But yeah, honestly, not a bad way to start the year, I think.

“We’ll see what the next few circuits have in store for us – some quicker layouts and very different tarmac,” he added.

“So we’ll see if that suits us better or worse. Hopefully better. But yeah, not a bad way to start the year.

“On a personal note, it was a decent race. So yeah, I’m pretty pleased.”