Oscar Piastri has missed the Australian Grand Prix after crashing his McLaren on his way to the grid at his home race.
After the pit lane was opened to allow cars to move onto the grid 40 minutes before lights out for the first race of the 2026 season, Piastri inexplicably lost control on the exit of Turn 4 and swerved into a barrier on the opposite side of the track.
The Australian appeared to have had issues with his car’s energy deployment early in the lap, perhaps taking a surprise when the car started running at full power.
speaking Sky Sports F1 Moments later on the grid, McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said: “We haven’t seen anything in the data so far. He didn’t say anything on the radio, so we’ll do a post-mortem after the race and see what happens.
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Anthony Davidson was at the SkyPad to look back on how Piastri crashed his McLaren on his way to the grid.
“For now we have to focus on the cars we race and get the excitement level up again, because it’s obviously disappointing for Oscar in his home race.
“I’m sure he’s going to be upset about it for a while, but these race car drivers know how to bounce back quickly. It’s definitely not the way you want to start, but he’ll come back.”
More to follow…
Formula 1 heads to Shanghai for the first sprint weekend of the 2026 season at the Chinese Grand Prix, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 from this Friday. Stream Sky Sports NOW – No Commitment, Cancel Anytime
