Oscar Piastri says he was “caught out” by a lack of grip during his collision with Alex Albon at the 2026 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.
Piastri endured a difficult afternoon at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, on Sunday.
The McLaren driver was only one of the handful drivers who had opted to start the 70-lap race on the green-walled Intermediate tyres.
That said, two aborted starts later, the track conditions had changed drastically, forcing the Australian into the pits on the very first lap to put on the dry tyres.
And while Piastri tried his hardest to climb back up the grid, he eventually locked up into the Turn 10 hairpin, collecting the Williams of Albon in the process, who later retired from the race.
After the event, Piastri was quick to apologise to the Williams driver and explained how he was simply “caught out” by a lack of grip.
“I thought it was going to be a bit tricky but possible,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“Just the level of grip out there was like nothing I’ve driven before, really. Just caught myself out, and obviously very sorry for Williams and Alex, because I wasn’t really trying to overtake him.
“Just locked up, and that was it. So one of those things.”
Oscar Piastri defends McLaren after bizarre F1 Canadian GP strategy call
The weather had been looming over the circuit throughout the weekend.
Race day saw rain at the track but while its rivals opted to stay on the dry-weather tyres, the Woking-based team took a gamble on the Inters.
On the formation laps, the Australian was adamant that he was on the wrong set of tyres, but after the race defended this decision citing that he was in fact one of the people who had been involved in opting for this strategy choice.
“It was a group call,” Piastri insisted. “I was one of the people that said yes to the inters.
“Between the anthem and getting in the car, it had gotten significantly wetter on the ground, and given how difficult getting to the grid was, I thought that the inters, if you could get temperature into them would be faster, that was our whole thinking, and then the rain stopped, so yeah, it was a bit of a shame.”
Piastri took the chequered flag outside the points in 11th – a whopping two laps down on the eventual winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli and the leading trio of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri delivers damning McLaren F1 Canadian GP verdict: ‘We looked like idiots
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