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AAP
AAP
Ian Chadband

Piastri frustrated to lag far behind winning teammate

While McLaren have been left enjoying another fine triumph at the Dutch Grand Prix, stealing Max Verstappen's thunder on his own track, Australian driver Oscar Piastri may have ended as the most disappointed man in the British team's camp.

Lando Norris was the man of the moment at Zandvoort on Sunday, handing Red Bull's runner-up Verstappen the sort of 23-second drubbing in second place that the Dutchman has become used to delivering himself for so long in recent years.

But while all the talk at the seaside track was about whether Norris could be set to launch a realistic charge to dethrone the champion, Piastri was left more concerned about how he had finished so far behind his teammate and didn't even make the podium.

Fourth place for the Melburnian, behind Ferrari's third-placed Charles Leclerc, must have felt like a serious off-day when McLaren had clearly been so superior to their rivals that he felt they should have wrapped up a one-two.

Norris looked imperious after losing the lead to Verstappen only at the start, but Piastri, who also slipped back from third to fourth behind George Russell's Mercedes following a sluggish getaway, just couldn't find similar pace. 

"Just got stuck in the dirty air, really. It was as simple as that," shrugged Piastri, talking to Sky Sports.

"When I had a clear air, the pace was strong. It's just I spent about 65 of the 72 laps right behind someone.

"I didn't get a great start, and then there just wasn't enough of a pace difference to try and get past really.

"Of course, it's a bit of a disappointing result, especially given the pace of the car. So just not quite the weekend I was looking for."

McLaren will be hoping to emulate the one-two at next week's Italian Grand Prix in Monza that they enjoyed back in 2021 when Daniel Ricciardo led home Norris.

But Piastri admitted, first, there were "quite a few things" for him to try and review from the weekend.

Norris, too, was hardly getting carried away, despite the runaway nature of his victory, saying it was "stupid" to talk about him winning the F1 title.

Norris took the chequered flag 22.896 seconds ahead of Verstappen -- the biggest margin so far this year -- but he's still a huge distance behind the triple world champion with nine races remaining.

"I've been working hard the whole year and I'm still 70 points behind Max. So it's pretty stupid to think of anything at the minute," he said.

Piastri will also have to take points off Verstappen to boost his teammate's chances, but he finished 27.337 seconds behind Norris.

But McLaren are now only 30 points adrift of Red Bull in the team battle, and look increasingly likely to win their first constructors' title since 1998.

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