Australian fast-food chain Grill’d has revised its Oscar Piastri podium promotion following a dip in form from the McLaren driver in the Formula 1 title race.
Grill’d launched the Piastri burger and meal during the Australian Grand Prix earlier this season.
In recent months, it was brought back by popular demand as Piastri comfortably led the championship, allowing people to receive a free bonus burger for each podium.
Fans were quick to notice that since the promotion started two months ago, the McLaren driver has stood on the podium only once.
As the Australian has struggled to find his footing, the burger chain has changed its promotion. Grill’d now awards a bonus burger whenever Piastri finishes a race.
This promotion update follows Piastri’s disastrous run since the summer break, which has seen a 34-point lead over team-mate Lando Norris turn into a 24-point gap.
Stella still confident for Piastri
Since a DNF in Baku, his season has unravelled. As Norris continues to extend his championship lead, and Max Verstappen closes the gap, Piastri is under mounting pressure to perform.
However, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella remains optimistic despite the setbacks his youngest driver has faced this season.
“From a pace point of view, I think the pace was quite encouraging in the second and third stints,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“In the first stint Oscar was carrying some damage on the tyre that was locked and he was also kind of thinking that the stint would have been long, but in the second and the third stint I think the performance was good.”
Stella also added that a key takeaway from the race was Piastri’s ability to adapt quickly.
“Just talking right now with Oscar, some of the adaptations that we talked about in these low-grip conditions, I think he was able to execute them during the race,” he continued.
“So I think we take away from this event encouraging indications from a performance point of view and race pace point of view.”
Despite the tough run of luck for Piastri, McLaren admits that the Australian is not quite out of this title fight just yet.
“Some good learning across these three races for Oscar. This makes us optimistic for the final three races,” Stella concluded.
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