Broken Piastri “sorry” after destroying car as Aussie curse lives on

Oscar Piastri has broken his silence to explain what happened on his formation lap during which he crashed out and was unable to take part in the Australian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver destroyed his car on turn four after losing control and slamming the left side of the car into the outside wall leaving debris all over the track.

Such was the damage to his car there was no chance he would have made it to the start line.

“We need to review fully what happened,” Piastri said. “I got on the kerb a little but from what we have seen, everything kind of reacted the way it should within the rules but essentially I had 100 kilowatts more power than I have had all weekend at the point that I shifted.

“We had a bit of an issue out of the pits with no battery basically.

“When I shifted I went into wheel spin and given I was on the kerb already. It was a combination of bad factors.

“I’m obviously very disappointed. It’s a shame, things like that shouldn’t be happening but especially at my home race it’s even more disappointing.”

Piastri had been due to start from fifth on the grid but such was the damage, McLaren confirmed he would not take part in the race.

According to the Sky F1 experts it was “part mechanic issue and part driver error” with Piastri seemingly asking too much of his car before the tyres had warmed up.

It will now be at least 44 years before an Australian driver breaks the home town hoodoo.

Asked about the lack of fortune Piastri and his compatriots have had at Albert Park and the supposed curse, he said: "Clearly it still lives.

"Very disappointing. I don't really have many other words than that, but yeah, very sorry obviously for everyone that came out and wanted to support me.

"It's clearly not the way I wanted to start the year either, I can only apologise.

"I think this year, obviously the disappointment is even greater (than last year) but I think up until today, we did a lot of things well.

"We can clearly identify some things we need to change and do a better job at.

"But I think through practice and qualifying, I felt pretty comfortable, as comfortable as you can do in these cars.

"Yeah, it felt like I was building myself into it nicely, which that element is not too dissimilar to twelve months ago.

"So, I'll just try and take the learnings and come back next week."

Fans in the grandstands were in tears as news spread that the hometown hero would take no part in the race but there was little empathy from McLaren boss Zac Brown who said his driver needed to ‘shake it off”.

Speaking immediately after the incident, which delayed the race start Brown said: “We have not seen anything on the data so far and he didn’t say anything on the radio.

“We will do a post mortem after the race. For now, we have to focus on the car we have in the race. This is disappointing for Oscar at his home race.

“I’m sure he will be sore about that one for a while, but these drivers know how to recover quickly. It’s not the way he would want to get started.

"I spoke to him very briefly before the start of the race, he’s obviously bummed out but I told him he has to shake it off we have another race coming up. Disappointed for him and the team but 23 more to go.

"We didn’t see anything on the data. They tyres weren’t up to speed but we need a full download with him and look at the data."

Video of the incident shows Piastri was waiting for a queue of cars in front of him to move and as he accelerated, his head can be seen thrusting forward and backwards awkwardly as he shifted.

Sky Sports F1 analyst Anthony Davidson said the car did not appear “right” as it left pitlane.

“The combination of having more normal power, cold tyres and coming out of the pits, I think caught him out,” Davidson said on Sky Sports.

“He’s been put into this situation where his mind is focused on the battery and not getting the usual amount of power down the straight, then he comes into this situation.

“He’s definitely tentative on the accelerator and that final clunky upshift has spat the car around. A combination of mechanical and driver error.”

“This is heart breaking,” Martin Brundle said.

“I could cry. I literally had a tear in my eye. Everybody is heartbroken.”