MAC-MISSES COST PIASTRI A BIG WIN

Oscar Piastri had to pass everyone but the local school bus on a tortured run to third place at Imola.

Aiming for his fourth-straight win from pole position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, things went wrong for the young Aussie at the first corner.

He was too conservative in resisting Max Verstappen, a smart move to protect his lead in the world championship, as the defending champion drove past and away for victory at Red Bull Racing.

But his race went downhill from there, as McLaren made a mistake on strategy and two slow pitstops also impacted his day.

"It’s always a bit disappointing to start on Pole and then not win the race, but we didn’t quite have the pace, and Max was quick," Piastri said after the race.

It was his usual measured response as he joined celebrations for the second place of his team-mate Lando Norris.

“A double podium is a good result for the team," he said.

But he was clearly impacted by errors outside his control.

"When we made the call to pit early, the two-stop strategy seemed to make the most sense as the tyres didn’t have the pace, but we weren't able to then maximise it after, and were then unlucky with the VSC and Safety Car.

"A few things to review, but we’ve got a solid chunk of points. We’ll debrief and then turn our attention to Monaco.”

Heading to the next race in an F1 triple-header, Piastri still leads the world title pointscore but his margin over Norris has been slightly reduced to 13 points, with Verstappen 22 points behind in third.