Daniel Ricciardo nerfed Piastri after Stroll shunted him with sufficient force that it lifted the RB’s rear wheels.

The impact eliminated Ricciardo from the race while Piastri’s McLaren sustained damage to the diffuser.

Stroll broke the front wing of his Aston Martin in the clash but was otherwise able to continue in the race following a pit stop.

The Canadian was unrepentant following the race, suggesting that the crash was a result of others’ actions rather than his own misjudgment.

“The car in front of me just stopped from like 60 to zero, so a really stupid incident. It was one of those,” Stroll argued.

Piastri didn’t buy that explanation.

“Yes, but everyone else didn’t crash into each other,” he reasoned.

“I think in that kind of corner, you always need to expect that.”

Piastri brought his McLaren home in eighth to score four points, adding to the 18 team-mate Lando Norris amassed for finishing second.

That was despite battling with “significant” damage to his car for half the race.

“I don’t know how much time it was worth but looking at the back of the car after the race, it was pretty destroyed,” Piastri said of the state of his McLaren.

“I think it explains quite a lot of the deficit,” he added.

“I think in the first part of the race it was looking okay – lacking a little bit of pace but not too bad – but then after the restart it was just very much literal damage limitation.”

Team boss Andrea Stella added: “Oscar has damage on the diffuser. He lost a significant amount of rear downforce, equivalent I would say [to] four-tenths of a second, something like that.

“When we heard the numbers, I wasn’t very optimistic that we could have held positions like Oscar has been able to do.

“So while his result obviously is less noticeable than Lando’s, I think he did a good job in trying to understand how to drive the car when he lost so much rear downforce.

“The car was very oversteery, obviously because you lose downforce on the rear axle, but he managed to make some adaptations and keep Hamilton behind, so that’s also a strong result.”

It proved a surprisingly positive event for McLaren after the team predicted it would have a tough time in China.

Instead, it was arguably more competitive there than at any point earlier this season, given Norris had the measure of both Ferraris on merit.

With upgrades due for the Miami Grand Prix next time out, it’s a promising if confusing position for the Woking squad.

“Definitely, I think we need to understand why we’re quick on certain days and not quick on other days,” Piastri noted.

“I think we’ve got some good ideas but just need to make sure that ours reasons that we think for why are good are actually why.

“It’s very encouraging that Lando’s able to finish second on a track that we thought we would struggle on,” he added.

“It’s exciting for what’s to happen in the future, and some new parts coming to the car, it’s encouraging signs.”