Oscar Piastri has admitted that it hurts to have come within touching distance of a maiden F1 podium in the British Grand Prix.
Piastri finished fourth behind Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton in the race, losing out following a mid-race Safety Car.
Having stopped in the laps prior, while Hamilton had not, it afforded the Mercedes driver a cheap pit stop, leapfrogging him up the order.
To that point, Piastri held a comfortable third behind this team-mate, the pair pulling clear of Charles Leclerc.
“It hurts a little but to be P4 when we were looking on for a podium for so long,” he said.
“A bit unlucky with the Safety Car timing, but just so happy that I’m disappointed with fourth place instead of what we’ve been disappointed with earlier in the season.
“We were looking so good,” he added.
“We executed everything we could; we were pulling away from the cars behind, all to be one second too far behind, pretty much, when the Safety Car came out.
“So it hurts a little bit.
“But again, I’m so happy that I’m disappointed with P4 as opposed to what it has been earlier in the season.”
Piastri got a fast getaway off the line, drawing alongside pole-sitter Verstappen as Norris took the lead at the first corner.
The Australian then challenged the world championship leader, forcing the Red Bull driver to defend into Brooklands and again in Copse on the opening lap.
“Pretty exciting,” he said of the brief battle.
“When I got off the line I was like ‘Okay, I’ve got the best start out of everyone here’, and I had to find somewhere to go – ran out of space.
“But I think the more exciting part was being able to hand onto the back of him for a few laps.
“And even for the rest of the race, it wasn’t like he was stupidly quicker than us.
“That was very exciting; to be genuinely the second fastest team today exceeded all our expectations.”
With Norris second, McLaren has leapt ahead of Alpine in the constructors’ championship with a healthy 30-point haul in Silverstone.
Piastri meanwhile has climbed to 11th in the drivers’ championship with 17 points from the opening 10 races.
The F1 season continues with the Hungarian Grand Prix from July 21-23.
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