Piastri ‘should have been more aggressive’ in Canada

Oscar Piastri believes he should have been more aggressive during the middle phase of the Canadian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver finished just outside the points in 11th, once a penalty for team-mate Lando Norris was applied, frustrating the Australian.

Piastri started the race eighth and ran as high as sixth in the early stages after clearing Norris at the start and passing Nico Hulkenberg on Lap 7.

Stopping under the Safety Car for George Russell’s brush with the wall dropped him down the order before being passed by Norris, who’d also taken the opportunity to stop.

“The first stint was very good, I thought. Some good moves, pace seemed strong,” the 22-year-old said.

“Then, after the Safety Car, struggled a little bit with the pace and also should have been more aggressive in a few places, and just a couple of mistakes.

“Just didn’t quite have the pace on the hards today, so a shame to be so close to the points and not getting any.

“Both good and bad things to learn from that race, which I guess at this point is still the biggest thing.”

Piastri lost a place to an aggressive Norris, who dived underneath into Turn 1 before passing Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen soon after.

Alex Albon then found a way through when the Australian made a mistake under braking for the final chicane.

Albon promptly returned the place when he sailed through the run-off at Turn 12.

Ninth at the time of his second stop, Piastri rejoined 13th, moving up to 12th when Mercedes retired Russell on Lap 54.

He spent the final laps on the back of a DRS train that included Esteban Ocon, Norris, Bottas, and Lance Stroll, taking the flag 12th.

It was a result not dissimilar to that seen in Spain, where McLaren qualified well only to slip backwards in the race.

“Here was a different story for Barcelona,” Piastri noted.

“I think Barcelona, we clearly didn’t have the pace on Sunday; today, I think we’re probably just even with the cars around us which, unfortunately, with the strengths and weaknesses of our car, and strength and other cars, namely the Williams, it means we can’t do that much with it.

“Today, and this weekend generally, was much more encouraging than Barcelona, but just a shame that we didn’t get any reward at the end.”

Piastri has slipped to 14th in the drivers’ championship following Canada after Albon scored six points for finishing seventh.