28/07/2025 06:30
Oscar Piastri has reflected on how "nervous" he felt during the
Belgian Grand Prix after seeing Lando Norris opt for hard tyres
during the pit stop phase. The Australian driver ultimately beat
his McLaren team-mate to victory at Spa-Francorchamps, his eighth
grand prix win of his F1 career. In doing so, he matched compatriot
Daniel Ricciardo, although in 199 fewer starts - and Norris and
Charles Leclerc, who joined him on the rostrum. Jacky Ickx, who
waved the chequered flag in Belgium, also won eight grands prix
during his F1 tenure. Now just one victory shy of manager Mark
Webber, it was not a straightforward afternoon for Piastri, who was
being constantly chased down by Norris, after taking the lead from
him on the first lap of racing. On medium compound tyres, he was at
the mercy of his team-mate, who was on harder rubber and able to
push more. It left him "nervous" that Norris would close in and
retake the lead. "It was a tough race," Piastri told media,
including RacingNews365 . "Difficult conditions at the start and
then just trying to manage the inters [intermediate tyres] firstly,
because it was drying relatively quickly, but you can kill the
inters in a lap or two if you really want around here. "So that was
a bit tricky. And then I felt good on the mediums for about five
laps, and then when I could see that the hard on Lando's car was
not worse than the medium, I was a bit nervous, considering we had
nearly 25 laps to go at that point. "So, I had to be a bit careful,
but it held on in the end much better than I feared. I had to
manage a bit, but nothing special." 'I probably would have done the
same thing' Holding off Norris allowed Piastri to extend his F1
drivers' championship advantage to 16 points, as he aims to become
the first Australian to take the title since Alan Jones in 1980.
Had the other McLaren triumphed, his lead would be down to just two
points. The now-eight-time grand prix winner disclosed that going
for the hard Pirellis, as Norris did, was discussed before the
race, and that he would have made the same decision if he were in
his team-mate's shoes. "We'd spoken about it before the race," the
24-year-old explained. "It was quite a late decision to pit on the
lap we did, but there's risks either way. "If I was in Lando's
position, I probably would have done the same thing. At that point,
it seemed like the safest thing to do was go on the medium, because
the hard is two steps harder here - you don't know how it's going
to react in those conditions. "If there's a safety car, which often
there is in those conditions, then you probably want a medium, not
a hard. There are risks both ways, but ultimately, I'm happy with
what we did."
