Oscar Piastri says his defeat in the Qatar Grand Prix was more painful than McLaren’s double disqualification in Las Vegas.

The McLaren driver dominated much of the weekend, taking both pole positions and winning the sprint race. He led the early part of the grand prix but his race was compromised when McLaren opted not to pit during the Safety Car period on lap seven.

The decision ultimately dropped Piastri behind Max Verstappen, who went on to win the race. Coming one week after he and team mate Lando Norris were disqualified after the race in Las Vegas, Piastri said the latest setback was an even worse blow.

“On a personal level, I feel like I’ve lost a win today,” he said. “In Vegas, I lost a P4.

“Obviously, for the team, it was a pretty painful weekend. But I think for me personally, this probably hurts more.”

Piastri said he asked the team before he reached the pit lane entrance whether they were going to pit.

“I asked ‘what are we doing?’ because we were getting pretty close to the pit entry and I hadn’t had a call yet. When you don’t get a call instantly when the Safety Car comes out, clearly there’s probably some discussions going on about what to do.

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“In that situation, you have to trust the team because they have a lot more information than the driver in the car on where gaps are and stuff like that. So in that scenario I have to trust what the team decide.”

He became concerned when he realised only he and team mate Lando Norris had not taken the opportunity to pit.

“When I got told that everyone has pitted except for me, Lando, and Ocon, and then Ocon pitted the next lap, I knew we were in some trouble. There’s clearly some things to review but I don’t have any answers at the moment.”

The result leaves Piastri, the former championship leader, third in the standings going into the final race of the year.

He said the result is “certainly not a catastrophe” but admitted “I think we made a wrong decision today, I think that’s clear.”

“But it’s not like the world ended. Obviously it hurts at the moment, but with time, things will get better. There’s been lots of difficult moments – this year [and in] previous seasons together – and I feel like you always become stronger through some of these moments. But it all depends on how you deal with it.

“I’m sure we’ll get through it. But obviously, at the moment, it does hurt.”

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