After an impressively clean rookie season to date, Oscar Piastri endured his first major accident of the season when he crashed out of FP2 for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Piastri lost control of his McLaren in the early stages of the session midway through the banked Turn 3, spitting his car into the outside barrier.
Daniel Ricciardo, who had been trailing his compatriot, followed suit after being forced to pick between a collision with the stationary car or the barriers.
The AlphaTauri driver suffered a broken metacarpal in the incident and will be replaced by Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson for the remainder of the weekend.
Piastri admitted that a mistake led to his first significant Formula 1 crash, although he had been expecting to fall foul to an incident at some point in his maiden campaign.
“I just went in a little bit too hot, tried to turn in a bit aggressively and unfortunately found the wall,” the rookie said.
“It is a shame, and unfortunate to give the guys a massive load of work [to repair the car], but we will try to bounce back.
“I guess it was going to happen at some stage, but you never want it to.
“I was just pushing a little bit too hard, and around here, especially in that corner, you pay a big consequence if you overdo it a little bit. I’ll try not to do it again.”
Despite the accident, it was a positive day for McLaren as team-mate Lando Norris ended FP2 fastest.
“It’s clearly been a good day on Lando’s side of the garage, it was a quick FP2 for him,” Piastri added.
“Even before the crash, I was feeling quite god with the car and the pace looked reasonable on the Hard tyre.
“Obviously I’ve got a few less laps under my belt, but it is encouraging that the car is quick.”
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