Piastri concedes he 'braked too early' in battle with Verstappen at Imola race start

Oscar Piastri has admitted that he "braked too early" allowing Max Verstappen to snatch the lead from the McLaren driver on the opening lap of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, with the Red Bull driver going on to take a dominant victory.

The Australian started on pole for Sunday's race and held the lead off the line on the run to the first braking zone at the Tamburello chicane, with fellow front-row starter Verstappen side-by-side with P3-starter George Russell.

READ MORE: Verstappen storms to victory in thrilling Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix ahead of Norris and Piastri

But sensationally, Verstappen sent his Red Bull to the outside of Piastri into the braking zone, squeezing the McLaren driver to the apex of the left turn before jumping into the lead through the following right.

"I just braked too early, it was a good move by Max as well," said Piastri after finishing third, cutting his Drivers' Championship lead to just 13 points over team mate Lando Norris.

"It’s disappointing obviously, but I think we made a few wrong calls after that anyway. Not our best Sunday, so definitely a lot of things to look at and review from that one.

"Well done to Max and Red Bull. It was a good move, but also they had pace today. We’ll look back on that one and see what we can do a bit better."

AS IT HAPPENED: Verstappen wins eventful Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix ahead of Norris and Piastri

Piastri circulated in second during the opening phase of the race having dropped back from Verstappen and was called into the pits to switch from the medium Pirelli tyre to the hard compound but found himself mired in the pack, requiring him to make several overtakes.

Piastri lost further ground to Verstappen as Esteban Ocon's stranded Haas brought out the Virtual Safety Car just before the halfway point, allowing the reigning World Champion a free pit stop which meant he rejoined with an extended lead.

A Safety Car to retrieve Kimi Antonelli's stranded Mercedes also left a 10-lap sprint for all the drivers at the end, but Piastri's older Pirelli hard tyres meant he was never able to challenge Verstappen at the restart on a day when Red Bull's pace matched McLaren.

"Obviously the VSC was perfectly timed for Max and Lando, and then [under the Safety Car] I’d obviously used both my tyres at that point, both my hard tyres, so it made the last restart pretty tricky," Piastri explained.

"I tried my best to hang onto second, but I just had nowhere near enough grip, so third it is."

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Piastri lost second to team mate Norris late on as the Briton was able to use his fresher tyres, having pitted under the Safety Car, and DRS into the opening chicane to surge ahead, with the pair almost making contact.

"It was tricky, I tried my best to hang on, but I just didn’t have the grip," said Piastri about the move.

"I tried my best and it was inevitable I think that he was going to get past, but I wasn’t going to give up without a fight."