Piastri admits he was surprised by Verstappen's three-stop strategy at Barcelona

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri conceded that while he had the 66-lap Spanish Grand Prix under control, he was surprised by reigning champion Max Verstappen's three-stop strategy that slightly put the Woking-based squad under pressure.

McLaren locked out the front row for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri having headed his team-mate Lando Norris in qualifying. The papaya team had been expected to displayed an even more dominant performance in a race given the high ambient and track temperatures.

Although the first stint indicated that the 66-lap Barcelona round would be a a straightforward race for McLaren, Red Bull put Max Verstappen on a three-stop strategy. With the Dutchman having displayed eye-catching pace through his second stint, McLaren were forced to ask their drivers to pick up the pace in order to cover Verstappen.

While Piastri built up a healthy gap, Norris had to work a little harder in the early stages as he fell behind Verstappen at the start. However, once he made his way past the reigning champion, he looked to control the gap even when Verstappen closed up in the late pit stops.

When the late Safety Car came out, Piastri and Norris had to defend at the restart, but they were able to escape from their rivals, with Piastri winning the Spanish Grand Prix from his team-mate Norris.

Piastri conceded that while he had the 66-lap race under control, he was surprised by Verstappen's three-stop strategy that slightly put McLaren under pressure.

"It felt mostly under control. I think I wasn't really expecting Max to try a three-stop race, and I wasn't really expecting it to work… Well, almost work as well as it did either.

"So there was a bit going on at that point definitely, and just with all the traffic and the blue flags as well, that made the race a bit more interesting than I wanted. But, apart from a few laps trying to get through the blue flags, I felt pretty much in control and could increase my pace when I needed to.

"So, yeah, it was a really strong race and a strong weekend. I think we did a really good job of managing everything in that race: sticking to our plan on strategy, not getting distracted by the three-stop, really good pit stops. Yeah, I think we just did a good job all around.

Asked whether the Spanish Grand Prix weekend was his strongest weekend in Formula 1 to date, Piastri refused to confirm it, but he stressed that he had nothing to complain about.

"It's definitely up there. I don't know if it's the best one, but certainly it's been a strong one. You know, it's pretty hard to complain with the results we've had this weekend.

"And I think more so than that, just the effort that's gone in, and analysing some of the things from last week that we could have done better I think we turned it around very nicely and got back to the form we wanted to be on. And, yeah, that's what I'm very satisfied with this weekend. Definitely one of the strongest," Piastri added.