Oscar Piastri has reflected on a race that ended in disaster after a potential win slipped through his fingers at the F1 Australian GP.
Starting on the front row, Piastri initially lost second place to Max Verstappen and spent most of the first stint behind the Red Bull.
However, when Verstappen made an uncharacteristic error, he retook the position and charged after team-mate Lando Norris.
Rapidly catching the sister car, Piastri received an order by McLaren to hold position, which he begrudgingly obeyed.
Reflecting on his performance after the race, Piastri said his initital pace on intermediate tyres was strong.
“The start was not amazing, but just got pinched on the inside a little bit and then was overtaken. I think the pace was really strong until we pitted for slicks.
“And I think Max locked up a little bit and went wide, and I was able to show the pace I had. It’s just a shame that it didn’t lead to the result we wanted.”
The incident that ended victory hopes for Oscar Piastri
In the latter stages of the race, the changeable weather that had threatened to spice up the action and a downpour ensued.
As he and Norris entered the final corners on lap 44, the wet weather caught out both McLarens. Piastri followed Norris into the grass, however he could not regain control.
His MCL39 slid wide at the hairpin, becoming beached on the grass. Piastri eventually rejoined the circuit, but was now a lap down. He reflected on the incident and took responsibility. Norris went on to secure victory.
“I tried to push a bit too much. In those conditions, [it was] very difficult to judge just how slippery it’s gonna be. I think from one left to the next, it didn’t really change a lot. I could see Lando going off in front of me, but I was also already in the corner, so there wasn’t much I could do to slow myself down at that point.
“And then once I had the gravel and the grass, I obviously tried to keep the car as straight as possible, and then, yeah, obviously to get getting stuck in the grass like that was pretty unbelievable inside of the car. I’ve only got myself to blame for being there, so it’s a shame.”
A push for points
After rejoining from the pits, another Safety Car allowed Piastri to close up on the pack and score points, after what he labelled “frustrating moments”
“I knew that we had strong pace, I knew that I had strong pace. Even after the final restart, it was frustrating. Ocon went wide or or nearly lost the car at the last corner, so I went past just by driving normally and then had to give the position back, so I lost 3 or 4 seconds doing that.
“Given that I had to un-lap myself, I had some pretty good temperature in the tyres and was just able to capitalise on the car’s pace and my own confidence.
“I’m glad that we at least got back to the points.”
Piastri also stated his displeasure with the request for him to hold position early in the race, when his pace was at its best.
“I think today’s race and the circumstances were pretty extreme. We were approaching back markers, one dry line, not knowing if there was going to be rain to come. I’ll speak to the team and try and understand better what the thinking was, but, you know, I think it’s always clear that those kind of calls can come in either direction.”
An unlikely source of inspiration for Oscar Piastri
Piastri revealed an unlikely aid to his minute-long battle to rejoin the circuit after his excursion. He said learning to reverse a tractor at Jeremy Clarkson’s farm may have helped him in his efforts to rejoin the circuit.
“I was just trying to stay in the race, [I tried] to go forwards, and then couldn’t, so, [it was] a good thing I spent some time in the offseason trying to learn how to reverse a tractor at Jeremy Clarkson’s farm. I think it came in handy today.
“I was just trying to get myself back to the race.”
When asked about what he could apply to China in just one week’s time, Piastri said: “Yeah, definitely [some positives we can take]. I think for essentially 56 laps of today’s race, I was very proud of the job I did.”
The ‘curse’ of the Australian GP
Reflecting on his difficult afternoon, Piastri said only “voodoo magic” could end Australia’s ‘curse’. No Australian F1 driver has stood on the podium since John Smith in 1983.
“It’s something you kind of dream of as a kid racing at home, being the one that most people support, so it’s really special. Melbourne’s always been a city that gets behind any sport that comes here, but I think the passion, for one, is just growing and growing, so, it was really cool to see how big the crowds were the whole weekend.
“Maybe [Australia can] do some voodoo magic or pray to break this curse for Australia, so maybe next year we can get some good luck and finally get another up there on the podium.
“If they could mow the grass a couple of inches shorter, that might help me. It’s obviously a shame with how it went today. I feel like we deserve to have, or the crowd deserves to have an Aussie on the podium to cheer for.
“So, it obviously hurts at the moment that I can’t be up there [on the podium], but I think for myself, there’s still a lot of positives to try and take out today. And I think if we’ve got a car like we had today in the future, then hopefully we don’t have to wait too much time.”
Feature Image Credit: @McLarenF1 on X
