Verstappen mistake made Monza 'awkward' for Piastri: 'It was tricky'

Oscar Piastri found the racing bizarre at the Italian Grand Prix after being involved in various yo-yo battles.

Piastri crossed the finish line in fifth place after being involved in various battles with Lewis Hamilton , Max Verstappen , and Lando Norris throughout the day.

Asked whether it was enjoyable from a driver's viewpoint, the Australian said: "It's difficult. Like, you know if you use any extra energy, you're gonna pay for it somewhere and I was kind of slowly building a gap on Lewis and then he spent all his energy getting past me and then kind of kept using it to try and break free and he actually got like a second ahead, and he lost it all in one straight.

"So it's still quite bizarre. Did I enjoy it more than I thought? Yes. Was I stuck in a lot of battles instead of having them pull me further into the race? Yes, I was also in that situation.

"So it is what it is. You know, probably better than a race where nothing happens, but definitely difficult in the cockpit to know exactly what to do."

Verstappen's mistake caused 'awkward' situation

Despite the Red Bull Racing driver being on fresher tyres, Piastri was able to keep up with Verstappen until he began battling Norris.

"He (Verstappen) made a bit of a mistake at Turn 1, and I think the track was breaking up quite a bit at Turn 2, and I think he got into marbles, and I think that took a while for him to get that off his side. So because of that, then we had a lot of back and forth and like, actually, I just wanted him to sit in front of me and drag me along because I knew he was quicker than me.

"But once that happened, it was a bit awkward because he was a little bit quicker but not enough to just, you know, for me to sit there comfortably and not have to compromise my driving. That was a bit tricky, but I think our pace at the end of the stint looked quite good, which was which was good."