Oscar Piastri’s miserable run at his home Australian Grand Prix continued after crashing out of the race during the reconnaissance lap before the Grand Prix even started
Oscar Piastri endured further heartbreak in his home city as he faced more bad luck on the streets of Melbourne. Twelve months after spinning whilst battling for the lead of the Australian Grand Prix, before managing only ninth place, things became even more painful for the local favourite as this time he crashed out before the race Down Under had even started.
It occurred during one of the reconnaissance laps, just moments after Piastri had left the McLaren garage. There was still over half an hour remaining until the start of the opening race of the new Formula 1 season when his car spun whilst he attempted to accelerate through a corner.
Piastri went over a kerb on the outside which appeared to instantly unsettle the rear of his McLaren before it spun on him. It then crashed heavily into the inside barrier, sending it sliding back across the track to come to rest on the grass.
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When his wrecked car stopped moving, the 24-year-old was left sitting in the cockpit with his head in his hands.
He was uninjured, confirming that over the radio before climbing out of what remained of his car without assistance. Piastri then walked back to the pit lane with his helmet still on, though his body language was evident – it was another devastating moment for a Melbourne man eager to create some positive memories on home turf.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown was present to provide his immediate response and commented: “We’ve not seen anything on the data so far and he didn’t say anything on the radio, so we’ll do a post-mortem after the race and see what happened.
“For now we’ve got to focus on the car we have in the race and get the excitement level back up because that is definitely disappointing for Oscar in his home race. I’m sure he’ll be sore about that one for a whilst, but these race car drivers know how to recover quickly, so definitely not the way you want to get started – but we’ll be back.”
Piastri wasn’t the only driver who failed to reach his grid position. Nico Hulkenberg brought his Audi to a stop on track whilst approaching the final corner at the conclusion of his reconnaissance laps.
His mechanics pushed him to his grid position but he was subsequently removed from the track and taken into the pit lane so they could address a technical issue in hopes of getting him ready to start.
However, when the lights went out his Audi was absent from the grid. Having been scheduled to start 11th, the German was left stranded in the pit lane and the Australian GP had lost two of its competitors before even beginning.
George Russell converted pole position into race victory at Albert Park. Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli came home second with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton to round off the podium.