Andrea Stella laments Oscar Piastri's pitstop error at Belgian GP

Piastri, fresh off his maiden F1 win in Hungary, was in contention for another triumph as he matched the leaders' pace throughout the gruelling 44-lap race at Spa-Francorchamps.

However, during his final pitstop, Piastri overshot his pitbox, resulting in a 4.4-second delay as the pitcrew scrambled to adjust and change all four tyres.

This error left Piastri with a tougher challenge in catching and passing Charles Leclerc's Ferrari.

By the time Piastri arrived behind Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, he was struggling with increased tyre wear.

Despite this setback, Piastri managed to finish right on the tail of the seven-time champion.

Hamilton initially crossed the line as the runner-up to his team-mate George Russell, who was later disqualified for an underweight Mercedes.

This reshuffled the final standings, but it did not diminish the impact of Piastri's pitstop error on his race.

Throughout the race, Piastri showcased his impressive form, consistently staying ahead of his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.

"Like Oscar said immediately in the in-lap on the radio, 'apologies for the pitstop', because I think he realises that that could have been a bit costly," said Stella.

"Potentially, he would have just queued behind Hamilton, but he could have also been in condition to attack. So I think this 1.5-2s loss at the pitstop ultimately proved to be relatively costly.

"Even because then you would have been behind Leclerc earlier with fresher tyres, which means you could have finalised the overtaking more easily. So a bit of a cascade.

"We do have to work with drivers in terms of like...even in the hot moments, just don't overcook it at the pitstop position because it can be very costly. I think he had something similar in Silverstone as well."