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Oscar Piastri believes a slow puncture during the Singapore Grand Prix proved to be a blessing in disguise, ultimately aiding his charge past Lewis Hamilton to secure fifth place on Sunday.
The Australian found himself in a lonely sixth position—20 seconds behind third-placed Hamilton and seven seconds adrift of teammate Lando Norris—before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 39 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit after Lance Stroll ground to a halt with a clutch issue.
Despite running on the oldest tyres among the frontrunners, Hamilton opted to stay out on the soft compound. Piastri initially made the same call on his medium tyres, which were 15 laps fresher, but a slow puncture forced him into the pits for a second stop on Lap 41.
Piastri rejoined the track on soft tyres facing a 37-second deficit to Hamilton. Lapping two seconds quicker than his rival, he erased the gap with three laps remaining. Despite putting up a stubborn defence, the Ferrari driver was powerless after running 44 laps on the softest compound.
"That was definitely the maximum we could achieve, we just didn't have the pace for anything more. We all know track position is everything around here. "I think I did a pretty good job personally. The puncture was frustrating, of course, but ironically it probably helped me. In the end, I got past Lewis, so every cloud has a silver lining," Piastri said. "It was tricky because the moment you catch the car ahead, it's very easy to overheat the tyres and get stuck at their pace. But given how quickly I closed the gap, I would have been very disappointed not to make the move stick. It brought a bit of excitement, which was welcome after what had been a pretty lonely race," the Australian added, reflecting on his late overtake on Hamilton.
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