Piastri: I just braked too early

Piastri, after Verstappen's brilliant pass, must now feel how his teammate Lando Norris feels after every on-track confrontation with the Dutchman.

Maybe the fact that he now leads the Formula 1 drivers' championship results in a more calculating approach from the Australian, but the fact remains that he did not put up a fight against Verstappen, whose move on Lap 1 in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix proved key for the win.

“I just braked too early," a downbeat Piastri said after the race. "It was a good move by Max as well. Disappointing, obviously but we made a few wrong calls after that anyway."

Indeed, McLaren blinked first and pitted Piastri at the first hint of tyre degradation which meant he could not benefit from the Virtual Safety Car that came out when Haas' Esteban Ocon retired with car trouble. That put the championship leader on the back foot.

However, in McLaren's race report, Piastri tried to put a positive spin on the outcome of the race; he said: "A double podium is a good result for the team.

"On my side, 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.

"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," Piastri concluded.

Piastri still leads the F1 drivers' championship from teammate Lando Norris by 13 points, while Verstappen is now 22 points behind in third.