Oscar Piastri reveals ‘awkward’ F1 cooldown room moment with Lewis Hamilton

Oscar Piastri has revealed that his most “awkward” moment in the cooldown room post-race was amid a tense atmosphere between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell earlier this year.

McLaren driver Piastri finished third on the road at the Belgian Grand Prix in July, behind Russell and Hamilton on the racetrack.

The Mercedes drivers were put on different strategies at Spa-Francorchamps, with Hamilton irritated with the call to come in for new tyres while Russell, on a one-stop strategy, stayed out and kept the lead until the chequered flag.

However, Hamilton was awarded the win and Piastri was promoted to second after Russell was disqualified a few hours later. Russell’s car was found to be 1.5kg under the weight permitted in the regulations, following the obligatory drainage of fuel.

Nonetheless, Piastri described the atmosphere in the cooldown room – where the top three drivers gather before going onto the podium – and stated Hamilton was “not in a chatty mood.”

“The most awkward cooldown room…” he told Cosmopolitan UK. “I’ve not been in that many, but the most awkward one was after Spa, where George [Russell] won and Lewis [Hamilton] finished second.”

“I finished third on the road, and then, of course, George got disqualified. It was tense.

“Lewis drove a great race. In a lot of circumstances, he should have won that race pretty comfortably so I understood exactly how he was feeling at that point.

“I could very much sense that Lewis did not want to be… he wasn’t in a chatty mood, so I just watched and looked at the highlights in silence and kept to myself!”

Piastri had won his first race in F1 a week earlier, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and has since won his second race in Azerbaijan.

The Australian, in his second season in the sport, is currently fourth in the drivers’ championship, eight points behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third and 42 points behind teammate Lando Norris in second.

Piastri will be back in action when F1 returns this week with the United States Grand Prix in Austin (18-20 October).