McLaren’s Oscar Piastri called out “dangerous” conditions in the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, exposing the sport’s Wet tyre problem.
As the rain intensified and Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas got beached upon a kerb at Turn 1 of the Interlagos circuit, the Virtual and then full Safety Car was called into action.
Piastri was adamant throughout the Safety Car period that the race should be stopped, as he struggled for visibility and traction.
“We need a red flag it’s ridiculous out here now,” the Australian told his race engineer over the radio.
“There is standing water everywhere, the Wets will not survive this. Either we need to put Wets on or stop the race.”
Shortly after Piastri’s complaints on the McLaren team radio, Franco Colapinto suffered a heavy crash on the start/finish straight. Then the red flag was waved.
Even after the restart, where race control waited for conditions to allow Intermediate tyre running, things were treacherous.
Compounding matters was the fact McLaren didn’t have the pace that it enjoyed in Saturday’s dry Sprint.
After finishing a disappointing eighth, Piastri told media including Motorsport Week that the Sao Paulo GP was “amongst the toughest” races he’s had in F1.
“It was a tough day from start to end,” he added.
“The first half of the race we seemed very quick, Lando [Norris] was stuck behind George [Russell], I was stuck behind Liam [Lawson].
“I got Liam out of the way not really in the way I intended, yeah, I think the second half of the race after the red flag we were just slow.
“I think both of us just struggled with pace and that was a pretty tough 30 laps.”
10-second Brazil GP penalty ‘deserved,’ says Piastri
Piastri was given a 10-second time penalty for punting Lawson into a spin at Turn 1, which he felt was “deserved’ given the circumstances.
“I was stuck behind him for a long time, and didn’t really get far enough alongside.
“I spoke to him about it, he said he didn’t see me either, which in those conditions is fair enough, but it was clearly my mistake and the penalty was deserved,” Piastri admitted.
Piastri lost out thanks to pitting before the race was stopped, with Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly benefitting massively en route to completing the podium.
That aside, Piastri called into question the timing of the Red Flag, which he felt should have been called prior to Colapinto’s crash.
Moreover, he argued that something needs to be done about Pirelli‘s Wet tyre compound, which is largely avoided due to its poor performance.
“I don’t think we expected it to rain as much as it did,” Piastri said.
“Then honestly the toughest part of the race was under the Safety Car trying to stay on track.
“I think it kind of exposed a bit of the issue we’re having with the Wet tyre when everyone is begging for a red flag but is refusing to go on to the Wet tyre because it’s so bad.
“So pretty dangerous situation having cars struggling to stay on track behind the Safety Car but it’s not really anything new so hopefully we can try and at least change it now.”
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