Oscar Piastri admits it hurt to just miss out on his first Formula One podium place at the British Grand Prix but the Australian rookie is thrilled by a dramatic change of fortunes for his McLaren team.
Piastri was unlucky to miss out on third place at Silverstone after an ill-timed safety car deployment just after he had pitted mid-race enabled Lewis Hamilton to leapfrog him into third place.
But McLaren’s dramatic success, with Piastri’s British teammate Lando Norris finishing runner-up to Max Verstappen and the Australian enjoying easily the best result of his debut season, has persuaded the Melbourne man the season really starts here.
"It hurts a little to be P4 (fourth) when we were looking on for a podium for so long," the 22-year-old told reporters, while Norris felt his young teammate deserved third place.
Piastri, who had previously not finished higher than eighth this season - at his home Australian Grand Prix - had been comfortably holding on to the third position from which he had started the race.
But having just pitted mid-race while Hamilton hadn’t, Piastri got unlucky when the safety car was deployed, allowing the seven-time world champ to nip in for a cheap pit stop that pushed him ahead.
"On my side, we were unlucky with the safety car timing with Lewis getting a free stop, but it's nice in some ways to be disappointed with the fourth place, considering where we were at the start of the year," said Piastri.
The British giants have had a terrible season, with no race pace, but upgrades at Silverstone transformed their fortunes.
"Clearly, the upgrades are a massive step forward. We were genuinely the second quickest team today, which was a very happy surprise," Piastri said.
"So, exciting times for the future and it's nice to be back towards the front. This is a huge moment.
"We've still got a hell of a way to go to challenge the next few teams ahead of us, but anything's possible if we can keep having weekends like this," added Piastri, referring to McLaren’s jump to fifth in the constructors’ championship ahead of Alpine.
"He (Piastri) should be sitting here," Norris told the press conference for the top three.
"It's a bit of a shame. He deserved his first podium in Formula One.
"He's been on top form all weekend, he's been pushing me an insane amount.
"All year he's been good. It's not like he's just turned up here and been strong. He's been good since day one in the car and makes my life tough sometimes. I don't always like it but it's a good thing and makes me a better driver too."
The 12 world championship points Piastri picked up eclipsed the five points he'd won in the other nine races combined and the haul has pushed him up to 11th overall.
