Oscar Piastri slammed the stewards’ decision to delete the lap time which originally put him third on the grid, calling it “embarrassing”.
The McLaren driver was ruled to have exceeded track limits at turn six.
The Red Bull Ring’s operators have made several changes to the circuit since last year’s Austrian Grand Prix, when over 100 lap times were deleted during the race due to drivers running wide.
Several corner exits have been modified and now feature narrower kerbs and gravel strips. However, Piastri had his third-fastest qualifying time deleted at the end of Q3 after he was deemed to have exceeded the track limits at the exit of turn six, despite not running onto the gravel.
Piastri did not initially realise he was at risk of losing his lap time. His race engineer Tom Stallard informed him his best time had been deleted as he entered the pit lane at the end of qualifying.
“Oscar, correction, the lap has been deleted,” Stallard said. “The lap has been deleted. We’re P7. Sorry mate. We’ll go forwards from there.”
“How?” Piastri asked. “Where was it deleted?”
“Turn six,” Stallard responded.
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Speaking after qualifying, Piastri said that him losing a time for exceeding track limits in this manner was “embarrassing” for the sport, given the work done to try and improve the track limits situation at other corners at the Red Bull Ring.
“For me, it’s embarrassing,” Piastri told Sky. “We do all this work for track limits, put gravel in in places… I didn’t even go off the track. I stayed on the track, probably my best turn six, and it gets deleted.
“I don’t know why they’ve spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, trying to change the last two corners when you still have corners you can go off. But anyway – everyone else kept it on the track, I didn’t. That’s how it goes.”
Piastri said the fact that he could lose a lap time for running wide at turn six without appearing to run onto the gravel means that the section needs to be changed in line with others around the circuit.
“For me, that was probably the best turn six I took,” he explained. “I was right to the limit the track, I think that’s what everyone wants to see.
“Again, we’ve spent so much effort trying to get rid of these problems. There’s no reason this corner should be an issue for track limits. Especially when you stay on the track like I did – or…
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