Plenty of positives from Piastri's Montreal debut

Monday 19 June, 2023
Photo: McLaren Media
There were plenty of positives to take out of Oscar Piastri’s first visit to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, despite narrowly missing out on points.  

The McLaren rookie was fast from the get-go, with challenging conditions allowing for a chaotic extended practice session on Friday and a wet and slippery qualifying on Saturday.  

Piastri showed his true form after making his way into Q3 for a second consecutive race weekend, setting a time fast enough for ninth before making his first major mistake in his F1 career by crashing into the wall - red-flagging the session as a result.  

Despite the crash, Piastri was promoted to eighth after a penalty was handed out to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.  

Getting off to a fast start, Piastri made his way past teammate Lando Norris at the exit for turns two and three to find himself in seventh, before making a veteran-like move past Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg on the back straight to find himself as high as sixth place by lap seven. 

A safety car was deployed on lap 12 after George Russell made contact with the wall, briefly moving the Australian up to fifth before dropping to down 10th on following his pitstop.

The second stint didn’t prove as successful for Piastri, first losing a place to Norris and then immediately losing another to Williams’ Alexander Albon after constant pressure.

Piastri was unable to replicate the pace from early in the race on the hard tyre, settling for 12th before a penalty to his teammate for unsportsmanlike conduct promoted him into 11th – missing out on points by just over six-tenth of a second.  

The result sees Piastri sit in 14th after the rounds end, with only a handful of points the difference between himself and Norris in 11th.  

The next round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship will be the Austrian Grand Prix take place at the famous Red Bull Ring on 30 June – 2 July.  

GB3 Championship

Costa Toparis was in action during the GB3 Championship’s visit to Snetterton across the weekend. 

After starting the weekend on a high qualifying in ninth and sixth, Toparis dropped down the order in the opening race after a spin while battling for places inside the top 10.  

The New South Welshman then found some luck in the second race, finishing in sixth place and picking up some valuable points for the team after the missed opportunity in the first.  

The third and final reverse grid race saw Toparis get off to a slow start after having to swerve to avoid a stalled car on the line but was able to finish the session unscathed and settle for 15th place.  

The early DNF means the 16-year-old drops outside the top 10 in the standings but is still within reaching distance of the top five if a few rounds of results would go his way.  

The GB3 Championship will next feature at the famous Silverstone Circuit on 29-30 July
 
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GB4 Championship

Cooper Webster had an almost-perfect weekend in the GB4 Championship after picking up pole position and two race wins at Snetterton.  

The Victorian claimed pole position in convincing fashion to start the weekend, while also claiming it for the second race with his second fastest time handing him pole for the second outing as well.

Webster stormed home to win the opening race in a lights out to chequered flag performance to claim his first career overseas race win. 

It wasn’t until the start of the second race that Webster made his first mistake of the weekend, surrendering the position to championship leader Tom Mills on lap one and ultimately falling just short of making it back-to-back wins.  

Webster didn’t let the result affect him though with incredible race three performance seeing the 20-year-old soar through the grid from 11th to take his second win of the weekend and claim the round win.  

In that same race, fellow Aussie Jack Clifford picked up his best result of the weekend with fourth, improving from an eighth place finish in race one and 11th in race two.  

Webster still sits in second place in the standings after such an impressive weekend while Clifford sits steady in ninth.  

The GB4 Championship will next feature at the famous Silverstone Circuit on 29-30 July. 

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British Formula 4 Championship

Three Aussies were in action in the British Formula 4 Championship over the weekend with a handful of top 10 results across their three races.  

With all three didn’t qualify as high as they would have liked, Patrick Heuzenroeder was the highest place finisher in the opening race in seventh, one spot ahead of Noah Lisle in eighth while James Piszcyk finished in 10th.  

After picking up a race win in the previous round, Lisle was unable to improve on his race one result as he crossed the line in 12th in race two and eighth again in race three.  

Heuzenroeder was once again the highest placed Aussie in the second race with sixth, but was unable to score any points in the final outing after finishing with a DNF next to his name.  

The second outing also featured Piszcyk’s best result of the weekend in seventh before dropping to 15th to close out the weekend.  

The disappointing weekend saw Lisle fall to seventh in the standings, three spots ahead of countryman Piszcyk in tenth while Heuzenroeder continues to work his way towards the top half of the grid in 16th.  

The next round of the British Formula 4 Championship will take place at the famous Silverstone Circuit on 24-25 June.  
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