Martin Brundle praises 22-year-old F1 driver’s ‘very brave’ Las Vegas GP moment

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Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle praised Oscar Piastri during the Las Vegas GP on Sunday after the McLaren driver’s ‘brave’ overtake on AlphaTauri racer Yuki Tsunoda.

The 22-year-old stunned Brundle in the early laps of the 50-lap event around Sin City. Piastri put on a show when the Las Vegas GP resumed following an early safety car period triggered by his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. The 24-year-old was a passenger when he crashed.

Norris lost control of his car through the high-speed kink before Turn 12 on the third tour of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. He could do nothing to avoid spinning hard into the wall before a cruise into the T12 barriers. Both McLaren drivers had made early progress before the crash.

Brundle praises Piastri’s bravery at the Las Vegas GP

Piastri and Norris took advantage of the first-corner chaos brought on by Fernando Alonso’s spin at the start. The pair ran just outside of the points having started down in P18 and P15 respectively. And Piastri continued his charge once the safety car returned to the pit lane.

Brundle was fast to praise Piastri for his overtake on Tsunoda for P10 when the Las Vegas GP restarted on Lap 7. He dived past the AlphaTauri ace and sent him straight into another fight with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. But the overtake was not a sure thing given the lack of grip.

“That was very brave given how little grip there must be,” Brundle said on Sky Sports F1 (19/11, 06:19). “So, Piastri on the march, making up for a very difficult qualifying session.”

McLaren’s strategy ultimately scuppered Piastri’s race

Alonso span at T1 at the start of the Las Vegas GP as Max Verstappen also went deep as he illegally overtook Charles Leclerc for the lead. The Las Vegas Strip Circuit gave zero grip for the 20 drivers in the early stages given air temperatures of 19C and track temps of only 20C.

Piastri ignored the lack of grip for the McLaren driver’s brave overtake on Tsunoda at the Las Vegas GP, though. But his race would ultimately unravel after his Woking team opted against pitting at the second safety car. It meant he had to make a late stop and fell down the order.

The Australian was running P4 when he eventually peeled into the pits. McLaren had to stop Piastri in the closing stages to meet F1’s rule for using two different compounds of tyres. The fresh rubber allowed Piastri to set the fastest lap of the race en route to also finishing in P10.