Oscar Piastri immediately apologises after ‘pushing the boundaries' in fight for victory against Lando Norris
It was the moment the great McLaren battle could have all gone disastrously wrong. Oscar Piastri moved to pass McLaren team-mate Lando Norris but locked his wheels and veered perilously close to his championship rival.
The Australian regained control to eventually finish immediately behind the British driver in an enthralling Austrian Grand Prix that tightened up the race to the world title.
Piastri, who saw seven points chopped off his lead, which now stands at 15, said: 'It was a good battle. A bit on the edge at times and probably pushed the limits a bit far.
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'But that's what we're here to do: try and race each other and try and fight for wins. And that's what we did today. It was close for me, but not quite enough.'
The moment, on lap 20, turn four, caused some angst among the McLaren management, who had to deal with Norris's more serious blunder in the previous race, in Montreal, when he collided with Piastri and put himself out of the running.
This was not on the same level but team principal Andrea Stella praised Piastri's immediate accountability after the incident.
Stella said: 'As soon as he crossed the finish line, he opened the radio and he said, 'Sorry for the situation in corner four. My bad. I know what I have to do'. We have come out stronger and even more united.'
Piastri replied: 'I thought it was a fair comment. Locking up and missing the back of your teammate by not a lot is certainly pushing the boundaries. So, even if I hadn't been told anything, I didn't think it was a wise decision to try that one again. So, a fair comment.'
The race-long duel made for gripping viewing, a point not lost on Piastri, who said: '(It was) intense. I hope it was good watching, because it was pretty hard work from the car. I tried my absolute best, and probably could have done a better job when I just got ahead momentarily.
Norris called it a 'beautiful one-two' finish for the team. 'We had a great battle, that's for sure. A lot of stress, but a lot of fun. A nice battle, so well done to Oscar,' he added.
'Hopefully it was a nice one for everyone to watch but inside the car it was tough, especially when he was in DRS (drag reduction range). It was a perfect result for the team, a one-two is exactly what we want and we did it again so I'm very happy,'
For Norris, this was full redemption after his Canadian nightmare.
He said: 'There were a lot of laps where I was looking in my mirrors. We both want to race hard and fair and it goes both ways. We have to put Montreal behind us and behind me for sure. It is something I wish didn't happen but it was nice we could push to the limit here.
'There were some close moments but nothing that would make (team principal) Andrea (Stella) or the pit wall sweat too much.'
It was very much the McLaren show and Christian Horner, the Red Bull chief, conceded Max Verstappen's bid to win a fifth consecutive world championship is all but over as he proclaimed a two-horse race for the title.
Verstappen is 61 points behind Piastri and Horner said: 'The buffer they have is significant. It looks very much like a two-horse race. They (McLaren) have got a cushion to the rest of the field.
'What's truly impressive is when you look at how close Oscar is able to run behind Lando with a car fat on fuel, at the beginning of the race, and he's basically making love to his exhaust pipe lap after lap after lap and the tyres are not dying.
'That is their advantage. I can't see any other car that would be able to follow that closely and not grain the front tyres or the rear tyres.'
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