George Russell of Mercedes wins, Kimi Antonelli second, Charles Leclerc third, Oscar Piastri of McLaren sorry for pre-race crash

Thanks to Oscar Piastri. He has always shown maturity beyond his years, but refused to shy away from things going wrong as he finished last year’s championship in heartbreaking fashion and watched his hopes of winning his home Grand Prix slip away once again.

“We had a bit of a problem, mainly because there were no batteries in the pits,” he told reporters as he headed to the grid to start the race.

“The actual crash was a combination of things [at play] – that was just a big element of mine, cold tires… I also had 100 kilowatts more power than I expected, so you put it all together and unfortunately that results in the result we got.

“This is absolutely disappointing and a scenario that should not happen.”

Piastri also explained what the catchphrase of the day, “torque increase,” means and how it affects his car.

“In mine [my case]There were a lot of rules, especially about how power units should work, and I was actually stepping on the gas less. [percentage applied] More than I am in qualifying and the way the rules stipulate torque demand should work. “I actually have 100 kilowatts more power than I can run at full throttle.”

Balancing the sudden burst of power between the hybrid-electric and internal combustion parts of the power units will be a problem all season.

Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris also spoke after finishing fifth; He largely stayed out of trouble from the start.

“We finished where we deserved to be; it’s clear the Red Bulls were much faster. Max [Verstappen] “He came from the end and almost beat us,” he said.

“We are far away, very far away, and we have a lot of work to do.

“This is not something that will happen overnight or in a week or two.

“From what we’ve seen, Ferrari clearly has the best car; their cornering speed is incredible. It’s impossible for us to match that.”