Oscar Piastri expresses frustration at just missing podium in British Grand Prix

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has voiced his disappointment after narrowly missing out on a podium finish, coming in fourth at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

The MCL60 underwent a series of updates, transforming its performance and enabling Piastri to qualify in third place for the Silverstone event, closely behind his teammate Lando Norris.

For a significant portion of the race, the two McLarens held second and third positions. However, Piastri fell behind Lewis Hamilton after making a pit stop shortly before the deployment of the Safety Car, resulting in lost time compared to drivers like Hamilton, who pitted during the neutralized race period.

Although Piastri achieved his best Formula 1 result to date, securing fourth place, he expressed his disappointment at being denied his inaugural podium finish.

"It's painful to come so close to a podium. We were in a great position," Piastri conveyed to the media following the race.

"We executed our strategy to the best of our ability, building a gap between us and the cars behind, only to end up falling just a second short when the Safety Car emerged.

"It stings a little, but I'm glad that I'm disappointed with fourth place instead of where we were earlier in the season."

The British Grand Prix marked Piastri's first race with the upgraded McLaren, as Norris had the opportunity to test the new package in the previous round in Austria. Piastri revealed that further updates were in the pipeline.

"Not bad at all, and there's more to come," Piastri responded when asked about his experience with McLaren's latest upgrades in his debut race.

"I'll have the new front wing next weekend, like Lando's had, and there are a few more additions as well.

"It's great to know that we're competitive here, and we still have room for improvement.

"The upgrades are undoubtedly a significant step forward. They've improved our performance over a single lap, but the real leap has been in our race pace.

"Before the race, I was slightly cautious that we might regress a bit, as we've experienced in the past. But if anything, it was even stronger than in Austria, so that was incredibly exciting."

Starting in third position on the grid at Silverstone, Piastri nearly caught up with Red Bull pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who had a slow start. However, he ultimately had to abandon the overtaking attempt.

Piastri also expressed his satisfaction with how closely he and Norris managed to trail the dominant Verstappen, describing it as an "exciting" experience to compete with the reigning World Champion.

"It was quite thrilling, to be honest. As I took off, I thought, 'Okay, I've outperformed everyone here' and tried to find a way through but ran out of space," Piastri explained.

"However, the most exhilarating part was being able to keep up with [Verstappen] for several laps and even for the rest of the race. He wasn't significantly faster than us.

"That was really exciting, being genuinely the second quickest team today. It surpassed all our expectations. It feels good to be back at the front."