Oscar Piastri was critical of McLaren's decision-making at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after the drivers' championship leader finished third on Sunday.
Piastri started on pole in Imola but was overtaken on the first lap by Max Verstappen, who surged to victory and closed the gap to the Australian in the standings.
The McLaren driver was overtaken by team-mate Lando Norris in the closing stages of the race, though he raised questions about his team's strategy.Â
Piastri had dropped out of contention for victory after McLaren's decision to bring him in for an early first stop on lap 13 backfired as he became stuck in traffic.Â
With little to gain from stopping at that point, Verstappen, Norris and the others who were staying out found that their tyres had come back into a better operating window.Â
The gap between Verstappen and Norris at the front had been holding around 10 seconds, but it doubled when the latter pitted at the end of lap 28.Â
However, a virtual safety car for Esteban Ocon allowed Piastri, who had made his way back up to third, a second stop.Â
Piastri, who was seeking a fourth successive race win, easily passed Alex Albon to get back into the top three, but the gap to Norris and Verstappen was widening.Â
However, Kimi Antonelli's late throttle failure triggered a full safety car on lap 46, at which point Verstappen and Norris both stopped for fresh tyres, while Piastri stayed out.Â
Norris began to use his significantly newer tyres to pressure Piastri, and got through at the first chicane as the pair very nearly made contact, while Verstappen cruised to victory.Â
"I just broke too early [at the start]. It was disappointing, but we made a few wrong calls after that. It wasn't our best Sunday," Piastri said.
"There are a few things to look at and review. Well done to Max and Red Bull, they had pace today. We'll look back and see what we can do better.
"It was tricky, the virtual safety car was perfectly timed for Verstappen and Lando [Norris] and I used both my hard tyres at that point. It made the last restart tricky.
"I tried my best to hold on to second. I had nowhere near enough grip, so third it is."
Third place meant Piastri secured his sixth consecutive podium finish, consistency that means he continues to lead the championship.
Norris, meanwhile, remains second in the standings, but acknowledged that Red Bull and Verstappen were worthy of their victory.Â
"It was a long race. From that perspective, it was not easy to overtake, but we did what we could. Max drove a good race. They were quick today, probably a little quicker.
"We had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself, which was tense, but always good fun.
"A good race. For us as a team, second and third is great. Of course, you would love to be up there fighting against Max, but they were too good for us today."
