Could Piastri have won Japanese GP without decisive safety car?

Oscar Piastri never had the chance to find out if his “I think we can hang onto this” victory radio prediction would have come true thanks to the intervention of the Japanese Grand Prix safety car that handed the advantage to Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli. So was he robbed of victory?The way the early laps of the race played out supported this. Having jumped into the lead at the start thanks to the slow starts of the two Mercedes drivers – Antonelli because he dropped the clutch too aggressively, and Russell because of a trailing brake that was a team rather than driver error – Piastri kept the chasing Russell covered. Aside from the moment at the end of lap eight/53 when R …