'Cooler' Piastri can bounce back from Norris defeat

May 27 (GMM) Former Formula 1 driver Mika Salo is tipping Oscar Piastri to bounce back from an ‘off’ weekend in Monaco.

The Australian still leads the world championship, but now by only three points over his McLaren teammate, as Lando Norris bounced back from a tricky couple of months with a win from pole.

Piastri acknowledged his messy Monaco weekend, but he also slightly lagged Norris’ pace. “I think I’ve hit more walls this weekend than I have in my whole career,” Piastri, 24, admitted.

Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde is not surprised.

“Piastri is very good on some circuits, not at all good on other circuits,” he told Viaplay. “He never seems to do well on street circuits.”

However, according to former Ferrari driver Salo, Piastri has the ability to quickly bounce back.

“Piastri is the mentally stronger one,” he said. “So he doesn’t care too much if he loses once.

“In the long run, Piastri is much stronger, mentally. Norris makes more mistakes, while Piastri is much cooler and thinks more about the championship.”

Salo, 58, stops short of declaring Norris’ return to form in Monaco as a potentially turning point for the championship. “Monaco is just different,” said the Finn.

“In Barcelona, everything will be different again.”

While the McLaren drivers are locked in their intra-team championship battle, lurking just 25 points behind – “one win” in the words of Christian Horner – is Max Verstappen.

He could rise no higher than P4 on the grid or in the race, but he remained cool and calm after the chequered flag in Monaco. “Hopefully it will go better in Barcelona,” said the Dutchman.

“Hopefully it suits our car a bit better, and that should be the case. Seven tenths behind in qualifying again wouldn’t be good,” Verstappen laughed.

“But I’m honestly not thinking about the championship at all,” he added. “I just take it race by race. You always know that you will be more competitive on some circuits than others. It was clear that we would have a harder time in Monaco.

“So give our speed throughout the weekend, we did well,” Verstappen, 27, said.

Van der Garde, who knows Verstappen well, appreciates his fellow Dutchman’s attitude.

“It’s nice to see him so realistic,” he said. “Max knew the car wasn’t strong enough so he just wanted to tick off Monaco and he did that well and smartly.”