McLaren collected important points to close the gap to championship leader Red Bull further, but Lando Norris was not delighted with his race, claiming that an early “silly” mistake cost him a shot at a potential better result.
Oscar Piastri started from P5 on the grid, but he made up a spot at the start of the race, getting ahead of his team-mate Lando Norris on the opening lap.
Having made a late second stop, the Australian was flying late on to close in on the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. He managed to pick off the Ferrari into Les Combes, the 115th race winner of Formula One just ran out of laps to challenge the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, but did earn a well deserved rostrum for his troubles.
“I’m happy with the result. I think we managed the race very well and I don’t think we could have done much more today. We did a lot of things right and gave ourselves the best opportunities, but in the end, it wasn’t quite enough.
“It’s been a really good couple of weeks for myself and the whole team. We’ve scored a lot of points and made inroads again today into Red Bull’s lead at the top of the Constructors’ Championship. That’s a big positive going into the summer break. I think everyone’s looking forward to it – I know I am – and having a chance to relax before coming back stronger in the second half.”
His team-mate Lando Norris had a messy start, dipping two wheels on the gravel to drop behind Piastri and Russell. The team opted to give him a longer first stint, but instead he was undercut and with track position king, wound up unable to make inroads on a frustrating afternoon.
“A disappointing race today. I went off in Turn 1 and it cost me a good position, which was difficult to recover with the lack of overtaking opportunities.
“The pace of the car was good, and the team have done a great job so far this season. We’ll go into the break, reset, and come back stronger to fight at the front in Zandvoort next month.”
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