Oscar Piastri highlights ‘massive element of luck’ in F1 rules criticism

Oscar Piastri said there was a “massive element of luck” to overtaking following the British Grand Prix.

The sprint in particular highlighted the best or worst, depending on your viewpoint, of the current regulations, with cars leapfrogging each other at the start of the race.

Oscar Piastri calls out F1 energy issue

The sprint was very much a battle of who had the most battery at what point and while the race was a more toned-down version, the overtakes still largely came through that method.

Piastri highlighted the boost button as being the cause of a “massive element of luck” when it comes to moving past an opponent.

“It’s tough, because some of the moves genuinely are still very good, but some of them really aren’t,” he said.

“When you’re racing four people, especially on the first few laps, there’s such a massive element of luck now, because what I had in the sprint, especially with how the boost button works now, you have to commit so early to using the boost button, and I used it, caught George [Russell] massively in the straight, but too close to the corner, so I had to brake.

“So this was a whole bunch of energy for no reason, but the only reason I pushed the button was to keep Charles [Leclerc] behind, and he didn’t push it, so in the end I didn’t need to push it, so like it’s just a massive game of flipping a coin, basically.

“All the deployment around you and sometimes it works for you, sometimes it doesn’t. This is a very extreme example for that, but it’s a shame in the car when you like to do something great, and then you just get passed again the next time.”

This follows Piastri describing the energy problem of F1 as a “mess” after he made contact with Liam Lawson on the opening lap of the grand prix.

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He started eighth but got swallowed up by the Racing Bulls and as the unwanted meat in a sandwich, he came away with major front wing damage.

“I got sandwiched on the way to Turn Six, basically. Broke the front wing and had to box,” Piastri told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.

“Lap 1 on these kind of circuits is just carnage.

“It’s almost like a multi-pass race start.

“I was trying to overtake Lindblad, and I seemed like I had more power than him. Lawson then passed me and seemed like he had even more power than me.

“It’s just a mess. You’re trying to judge your speed to the car in front of you, look at the car behind you but to be honest, I’m surprised that doesn’t happen more often.”

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