After a positive qualifying session on Saturday in his home town, Melbourne, Oscar Piastri was hoping to battle with his teammate, Lando Norris, for the race win. But his hopes would be crushed after a costly mistake at the Australian GP.
After qualifying, it was clear that McLaren had the strongest car on the grid. But with Max right behind them, nothing is for certain. The weather conditions during the race were extremely dynamic and led to incidents where drivers lost control of their cars.
Oscar Piastri makes costly mistake at the Australian GP
During the race, both the McLarens showed strong pace after building a gap of 15 seconds to Max Verstappen in 3rd place. It seemed highly likely that the Papaya team would take a 1-2 finish at Melbourne.
However, during the 2nd stint, the conditions were approaching a crossover period to switch back to intermediate tyres. At this point, both Lando and Oscar went wide into the 12 and went into the gravel. While Lando was able to recover from this, Oscar was unable to do the same. He ended up on the grass outside of turn 13. While Oscar was able to continue the race, he was a lap down on his teammate.
Where it all went wrong for home-hero @OscarPiastri 😱#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/SDC1vkbyPU
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 16, 2025
After the race, Piastri was completely heartbroken about his result. Here’s what he said during the post-race press conference on F1TV:
“I’ve only got myself to blame. Tried to push too much in those conditions, but, um, yeah. The other, uh, 56¾ laps were, were, were very strong. So, um, yeah, um, obviously disappointed, but I think there’s a lot of positives to take.”
Although Oscar was a lap down on his teammate, he was able to recover, thanks to a safety car. This allowed him to fight for a points finish and ended up P9 by the end of the race. This included some impressive overtakes in the final laps, including a nail-biting move on Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari on the very last lap of the race.
McLaren is still the team to beat
As Oscar said, there are a lot of positives to take from the Australian GP. Before the incident, it was clear that McLaren was the fastest on the grid. They were able to build a 15-second gap to Max Verstappen, who was another 8 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. So, heading to the next race in Shanghai, McLaren is still the team to beat.
For the past few years, we saw Red Bull and Max Verstappen dominate the sport. However, ever since the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, McLaren has made enormous strides forward to get ahead of Red Bull.
McLaren Emerges as the Fastest Car but Faces Biggest Threat from Within
With McLaren having 2 strong drivers in their lineup, the Drivers’ Championship is all to play for. Both Oscar and Lando have a good chance of taking the big trophy at the end of the season. Although Oscar lost a lot of points in Australia, this is a long season.
McLaren has often said that they have 2 number one drivers in their lineup. So, Piastri will have every chance to fight back as the season continues in Shanghai in the coming weekend.
