Piastri caught out by unexpected power in pre-race crash

Oscar Piastri says one aspect of the crash that prevented him from starting the Australian Grand Prix was due to the way the new power units operate, making it additionally tough to take.

Melbourne’s home favorite was on his way to the grid pre-race when he lost control on a curb exiting Turn 4, having been looking like he wasn’t pushing particularly hard at the time. The spin into the barrier heavily damaged Piastri’s car and ruled him out of starting in front of a record weekend crowd of 483,934, with the Australian admitting he takes a significant share of the blame.

“Just obviously disappointed, a scenario like that just shouldn’t happen,” Piastri said. “It’s obviously very disappointing that it did.

“We had a couple of things going on. The first part I wanna stress is there is certainly a big element of it that was me, cold tires… I have used that exit curb every lap of the weekend but, you know, I didn’t have to.

“At the same time, I had about 100 kilowatts extra power that I didn't expect, which is not insignificant. I think the difficult part to take with that is everything was working normally. It's just a function of how the engines have to work with the rules.

“So, that's the part that's difficult to accept. It would almost be easier in some ways if we just said it was cold tires and I was optimistic, but when you add in another factor like that it always is even more painful.

“It’s obviously very disappointing – I don’t really have many other words than that. Just very sorry for everyone that came out and wanted to support me. It’s clearly not the way I want to start the year either, so I can only apologize.”

Piastri was at least able to raise half a laugh when admitting the home race curse for Australians “clearly still lives!” – with no home driver being classified on the podium in either Melbourne or Adelaide – but says he can draw on the experience of 2025 when he spun off in wet conditions fighting for victory.

“I think [I’ll bounce back by] just trying to learn as much as I can, even just by watching the race,” Piastri said. “I think last year, while the result wasn't what I wanted, I felt like there was a lot of positives from the weekend. I think this year, obviously, the disappointment is even greater, but I think up until today, I think we did a lot of things well.

“I think we clearly identified 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 – and I felt like I was building myself into it nicely, which that element is not too dissimilar to 12 months ago. So I'll just try and take the learnings and come back next week.”