{"id":828751,"date":"2026-07-28T09:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T09:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/828751\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T09:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T09:13:14","slug":"how-piastris-quick-thinking-avoided-a-slow-pit-stop-early-in-the-race-racefans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/828751\/","title":{"rendered":"How Piastri\u2019s quick thinking avoided a slow pit stop early in the race \u2013 RaceFans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri<\/a> demonstrated a keen eye and quick thinking as he avoided a setback which could have cost him the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix early on.<\/p>\n

The McLaren driver was doomed not to finish the race for reasons beyond his control. But he was fully on top of the situation after snatching the lead from team mate Lando Norris<\/a> at the start.<\/p>\n

While Piastri led a queue comprising Norris, Max Verstappen<\/a> and the Ferrari drivers, his McLaren team was alert to the threat from Lewis Hamilton behind. They summoned Piastri into the pits soon after Hamilton pitted and Verstappen responded.<\/p>\n

However as he exited the penultimate corner on lap 15, Piastri spotted the ailing Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas<\/a> ahead, smoke pouring from its front-left wheel. McLaren did not have time to tell him to stay out but Piastri made the call for himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to get blocked by the Cadillac,\u201d Piastri told his race engineer Tom Stallard after choosing to pass by the pit entrance. Had he come in, he could well have been delayed behind the Cadillac, which Bottas brought to a stop after rounding the long final corner.<\/p>\n

Piastri came in the next time by and made his pit stop while retaining the net lead of the race.<\/p>\n

Piastri\u2019s radio messages before his first pit stop<\/p>\n

Lap: 14\/70 PIA: 1\u201925.681<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nGreen shape four, green shape four. Oscar, do you think this is plan A? Hamilton has pitted.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nOscar, I need to know, do you think this is plan A?<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nI mean, the tyres look okay, but I am struggling with the rear.<\/p>\n

Lap: 15\/70 PIA: 1\u201925.643<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nVerstappen has pitted. Oscar, we need to choose plan A, plan B.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nOscar, we think plan A. Use the pace now.<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nCopy.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nWe\u2019re box this lap. Box this lap.<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nCopy, box.<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nPiastri does not pit
I was going to get blocked by the Cadillac.<\/p>\n

Lap: 16\/70 PIA: 1\u201928.518<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nOscar use maximum pace this lap, maximum pace this lap.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nUse boost now, we\u2019re box this lap.<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nCopy that.<\/p>\n

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However Piastri was doomed to lose the lead of the race before his eventual retirement. Having made his second pit stop before Norris, Piastri was pushing to stay close enough to his team mate when he was badly held up by Fernando Alonso<\/a> and Carlos Sainz Jnr, tangling with the latter.<\/p>\n

Lap: 31\/70 PIA: 1\u201925.843<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nHamilton\u2019s pitting, Oscar, we need to use pace now, Verstappen last lap did 25.4, tyres a couple of laps older than us?<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nYeah, I don\u2019t really have any. The car has been super inconsistent on this tyre.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nUnderstood. Can see it\u2019s difficult, it\u2019ll get harder with backmarkers, but we just want good pace now, everything we can.<\/p>\n

Lap: 34\/70 PIA: 1\u201944.099<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nOscar this stint, make sure you set up the line for turn three.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nAlbon ahead should get blue flags. Albon ahead will get a blue flag.<\/p>\n

Lap: 35\/70 PIA: 1\u201923.896<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nLando currently one-and-a-half seconds behind your pit window.<\/p>\n

Lap: 36\/70 PIA: 1\u201924.135<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nOpportunity turns six-seven, more progressive steer into six if you can.<\/p>\n

Lap: 37\/70 PIA: 1\u201925.506<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nLeclerc\u2019s just pitted from ahead of you. There\u2019s three blue flags first.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nLando\u2019s doing 24.7.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nShould get blue flags here.<\/p>\n

Lap: 38\/70 PIA: 1\u201926.364<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nCome on, these need to move.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nWe should get blue flags, Sainz and Alonso.<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nExit turn three
Mate is he fucking stupid or what?<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nExit turn five
Get out of the fucking way you idiot! Oh my god.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nCar looks okay. Alonso ahead should get blues, Lando\u2019s on your pit window so use pace now.<\/p>\n

Lap: 39\/70 PIA: 1\u201924.402<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nLando\u2019s pitting this lap.<\/p>\n

Lap: 40\/70 PIA: 1\u201924.873<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nSo you could use boost, close with Lando. Play it sensible, though.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nNorris leaves the pits in front of Piastri
Oscar that\u2019s Sainz that\u2019s cost us that. Target is to get to the end on this tyre<\/p>\n

Piastri
\nAh, mate. It\u2019s better you don\u2019t fucking talk to me now.<\/p>\n

Stallard
\nUnderstood, I need you to get to the end on this tyre.<\/p>\n

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2026 Hungarian Grand Prix
\nBrowse all 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix articles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri demonstrated a keen eye and quick thinking as he avoided a setback which could have cost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-828751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}