McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has vowed to “clean up” the pit stop situation following the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.

Piastri’s second pit stop was poorly executed, in particular, as he overshot the box, almost sending his front-runner flying in the process. He was seen rubbing his neck shortly afterwards as slow-motion footage showed the forces involved.

He still managed to do his part in lifting the car, although Piastri’s mistake ultimately cost him around two seconds as his pit stop was 4.4 seconds.

The Australian, who finished third before being promoted to second after George Russell was disqualified due to an underweight Mercedes, also admitted that his first pit stop was far from perfect.

Asked whether it was one of his best F1 races in terms of execution, Piastri told the media: “I think so – I’m not sure if my front man would agree.”

Piastri – Not my best moment
Explaining the outcome, Piastri said: “I was just a little bit hot actually. I felt there was a lot of grip on the pit lane on Friday and I was always missing the box. Even in the first pit stop I probably missed a little bit.

“I had to brake a little bit, when Lewis [Hamilton] came out, so maybe I was a little bit slow, but the second time I was obviously a little bit too much. It wasn’t my best moment.”

Piastri finished the race strongly as he closed in on Russell/Hamilton for the lead, 1.173s behind Russell and 0.647s behind Hamilton.

The 21-year-old felt losing two seconds in his second stop “didn’t have much of an impact on the situation”, especially given the unexpected difficulty of overtaking around the Spa Francorchamps circuit.

“I think it means I’ll probably be stuck behind Lewis and George for another lap or two at the end of the race,” Piastri assessed. “But yeah, obviously I want to clear some things up for all the other races.”