Never take anything for granted
‘Match ends when referee blows whistle‘. A historic phrase from the legendary Vujadin Boskov who still today underlines the importance of never taking any result for granted until the actual conclusion of a football match is reached. A quote that can easily also apply to any other sporting event, such as a Formula 1 GP.
Suddenly the podium
The most concrete example came with the Austrian Grand Prix, which until the end seemed like a matter reserved only for Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, at least until the two friendly drivers (who knows if they will still be friends) came into contact, with damage that opened the doors to success for George Russell. The British driver’s celebration added to that of Oscar Piastriwho after what happened in the post-qualifying on Saturday could hardly have imagined a race closed at 2nd placehowever not far from the dream of victory.
What would have happened without the erased time?
The Australian from McLaren, author of the third fastest time in Q3, however had his fastest lap canceled for not having respected the track limits at the exit of turn 6, at the same point where the #81 also completed overtaking from applause in the race. The Woking team had lodged an official protest with the FIA to regain third place on the starting grid, with the Federation proving inflexible.
There is no shortage of regrets
For Piastri there is therefore the satisfaction of a podium finish, but also some regret for what the result of the GP would have been if it had not been for the cancellation of the lap: “I’m a little disappointed – he explained to Sky Sport F1 – 2nd place is obviously a good result, but knowing what would happen next honestly it hurtsespecially due to the nature of yesterday’s penalty. E’ my fault, but no one else got that penalty. Seeing the evidence, which then led to the cancellation of my tour, it burned me so much, then looking at the images they used to prove that my tour had to be cancelled. Today though I had a fire inside me to get a good result and I’m happy with the podium, even if It’s hard not to think about the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’“.
