David Coulthard tells Oscar Piastri what he must now learn from crucial Silverstone error

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There will be a handful of drivers who will believe that they should have beaten Lewis Hamilton to win the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday.

Lewis Hamilton won a historic ninth Grand Prix at his home race, fending off Max Verstappen who was chasing him down in the closing stages.

However, Verstappen was never in contention to win the race, instead benefitting from Red Bull nailing his strategy.

Hamilton’s teammate George Russell will wonder if he could have won back-to-back races were it not for a water systems issue that forced him to retire.

Then there’s the fate of the two McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Norris suggested two key calls cost him victory at his home race after leading throughout the middle stages of the Grand Prix.

Covering the race for Channel 4, former F1 Grand Prix winner David Coulthard spoke to Piastri about how his race unfolded.

He offered him some advice on how to deal with situations like the one he found himself in at Silverstone where one decision potentially cost him his maiden Formula 1 win.

Considering Piastri has only taken part in 34 Grand Prix, it’s understandable that he doesn’t always have the experience to overrule the team.

However, Coulthard explains that the person who know best is ultimately the person driving the car.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

David Coulthard tells Oscar Piastri what he must learn from Silverstone

Coulthard: “You were brilliant, there’s no question about it but this throws me back to many years ago when I was at McLaren here at the British Grand Prix.

“I got out of sequence in the pit stops, I ended up doing like four or five pit stops because I had doubts.

“I had listened to the team because I thought they had a bigger picture and the lesson I took out of it was, you’ve got to own it from the cockpit in those changing conditions.

“Do you think that could have been the case today in your view of this when it comes down to it that you say, ‘Guys, I’m coming in, I don’t mind if I’m losing seven seconds in the stop? I want to be on the same [tyre] as the people I’m racing.’”

Piastri replied to Coulthard and said: “Yeah, I think for me, I think I got told that [Max] Verstappen was faster but ultimately the team know how much faster and I didn’t.

“I was using every bit of concentration I had to get into the lead because I knew if I got into the lead then I could have pitted on that lap and pitted first.”

Piastri also explained that the track got ‘so much worse’ in the seconds after deciding to stay out, which exaggerated the mistake he and McLaren made in not coming in a lap sooner.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Oscar Piastri showed he can compete with McLaren teammate Lando Norris at Silverstone

Before the race, Damon Hill suggested Piastri could win the British Grand Prix and he showed glimpses on Sunday that it may be possible.

When the rain started to fall, McLaren had set their cars up to deal with those conditions better than Mercedes and suddenly Norris and Piastri were running first and second.

Just before they dived into the pits, Piastri was actually catching Norris and had the level of rain stayed the same, he would have fancied his chances of overtaking him.

However, not diving into the pits behind Norris cost him a podium – if not victory – even if he would have lost a few seconds and with experience he’ll make better decisions in those situations.

Until then, Piastri will have to continue pushing Norris, Verstappen and the two Mercedes drivers to try and become the seventh different driver this season to stand on the top step of the podium.