McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was “proud” of his Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix performance despite an “unbelievable” late off ruining his chances at a podium.
Piastri and team-mate Lando Norris were the class of the field at Albert Park this weekend, locking out the front row and running first and second for the majority of Sunday’s race.
But mixed conditions bit the Aussie home hero hard as rain intervened after the field had switched onto dry tyres.
On Lap 44, both McLaren drivers ran wide at Turn 12 as the rain worsened in the final sector with Piastri then going off and getting stuck in the grass at the penultimate corner, watching his hopes of a podium and the rest of the field pass him by.
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri not ‘kicking myself’ despite missing out on home F1 pole in Australia
“Yeah, tried to push a bit too much I guess,” a downbeat Piastri rued post-race in conversation with select media including Motorsport Week.
“In those conditions it’s very difficult to judge just how slippery it’s going to be.
“I think from one lap to the next it had really changed a lot and I could see Lando going off in front of me, but I was also already in the corner basically, so there wasn’t much I could do to slow myself down at that point.
“And then once you’re in the gravel and the grass you obviously try to keep the car as straight as possible.
“Obviously to get stuck in the grass like that was pretty unbelievable, sat in the car, but I’ve only got myself to blame for being there, so it’s a shame.”
Despite that agonising setback, Piastri was able to recover to ninth place and score two points by the time the chequered flag fell.
“I knew that we had strong pace, I knew that I had strong pace,” he said.
“I had some pretty good temperature in the tyres and was just able to capitalise on that, the car’s pace and my own confidence I think, so I’m glad that we at least got back up the points, but it should have been a lot more.”
Piastri taking positives amid home GP heartbreak
But for one fateful lap, Piastri’s Australian GP weekend was an impressive one.
It’s clear to see he has an incredible strong McLaren car at his disposal and less than a week until he arrives in China to put his Australia result to bed.
“I think for essentially 56 laps of today’s race, I was very proud of the job I did, the pace was really strong, and obviously disappointed with the mistake I made, but I think that doesn’t take away completely from how strong the whole weekend’s been, for not just the team, but for myself, I feel like I’ve done a good job all weekend, so I think it would be pessimistic of me to just write off the whole weekend because of one mistake,” Piastri said.
Acknowledging the MCL39, the clear pacesetter among F1’s 10 cars, Piastri added “I think one thing we wanted to do this year was start stronger than we’ve started the last two years, and I think today pretty emphatically showed that we mean business.”
Expect Piastri to return to the front in Shanghai next weekend.
READ MORE – Lando Norris survives late drama to win F1 Australian GP
