Revealed: What shocked Oscar Piastri said to Charles Leclerc in Monza cooldown room

Oscar Piastri was shocked that Charles Leclerc “survived” on an Italian Grand Prix one-stop strategy, never mind taking the win.

After muscling his way past McLaren team-mate Lando Norris at the della Roggia chicane on the opening lap, Piastri strengthened his control of the Italian Grand Prix and appeared to be on his way to a second career victory, but Ferrari had a major strategical trick up their sleeve.

Oscar Piastri shocked Charles Leclerc ‘survived’ Monza one-stop

While Piastri and Norris went with the two-stop strategy, Ferrari rolled the dice with a one-stopper which Leclerc used to pull off the win and send the tifosi into raptures.

And as the top three of Leclerc, Piastri and Norris headed to the cooldown room, Piastri would tell Leclerc how shocked he was that the Ferrari driver “survived” on that one-stop strategy.

“I was very… well I was not surprised you stayed out, but I was surprised you survived,” said Piastri.

“My front left was not looking very good. I mean it was still going okay, but we were going like eight-tenths slower I think.”

Leclerc would talk up the value of not locking-up with that successful strategy masterclass.

“I thought if I was locking-up, I was destroying it,” he said.

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Piastri, speaking immediately after the race, admitted that the result “hurt”, but during the race, attempting the one-stop seemed like a “very risky goal”.

“Yeah, it hurts. I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot,” he said.

“Did a lot of things right today. There was a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race. From the position we were in, with the tyres looking like they did, doing a one-stop seemed like a very risky goal, and it was right.

“So, yeah, very, very happy with the pace, with the race that I managed to achieve, just finishing second, it hurts.”

Put to him that the team had asked him on the radio if he wanted to try the one-stop, Piastri was asked whether he felt, in hindsight, that he should have gone for it or if the tyres were really gone?

“In hindsight, yes,” he replied, “but everyone’s a legend on Monday after the race or the chequered flag.

“And today, unfortunately, we got it a bit wrong. And myself being a big part of that.

“We had everything to lose from being in the lead of the race. Charles could try something a bit different. He was going to finish third either way. And yeah, picked the right handle.

“The mediums were getting destroyed, and even the hards on the Red Bull at the start looked pretty dead. And my front left was pretty heavily grained, just we didn’t expect it to clear back up again, which it did.”

That Leclerc victory in the upgraded Ferrari, further boosted by P4 for Carlos Sainz, has put Ferrari right back in the hunt for the Constructors’ Championship title. The gap to leaders Red Bull is now only 39 points.

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