The most painful part of Piastri's home pre-race crash

Oscar Piastri felt "shocked and surprised" as he crashed out of his home Australian Grand Prix before the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season opener.

Piastri's bid to avenge his 2025 F1 title defeat to McLaren team-mate Lando Norris started in the worst possible way, when he lost control on the Turn 4 exit curb and speared into the barriers on one of his reconnaissance laps to the grid. 

That instantly ended Piastri's race before it had begun and meant he was speaking to the media while his rivals were dicing out on track. 

"Well, we had a couple of things going on," Piastri explained.

"The first part I want to stress is that there is certainly a big element of it that was me, cold tyres. 

"I have used that exit curb every lap of the weekend, but I didn't have to. 

"At the same time, I had about a hundred kilowatts of extra power that I didn't expect, which is not insignificant. 

"And that's…the hard part to take is that everything was working normally. It's just the function of how the engines have to work with the rules. 

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

It's the second successive year of home race heartbreak for Piastri, who last year lost second place (and a potential victory shot) when he went off the track and spun during a sudden rain shower.

"It's obviously very disappointing," Piastri added. 

"I don't really have many other words than that but I'm just 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."

Piastri said he felt "just shock and surprise really" at the time of the crash as he was "backwards before I'd even really had a chance to react".

He said such a crash "shouldn't happen", but hopes he'll be able to rebound just as he did 12 months ago with a purple patch that set up his title bid.

"I think just trying to learn as much as I can even just by watching the race," Piastri said when asked how he'll rebound.

"Last year, whilst the result wasn't what I wanted, I felt like there was a lot of positives from the weekend.

"This year, obviously the disappointment is even greater, but I think up until today, I think we did a lot of things well."Clearly, there are some things we need to change and do a better job at. I think through practice and qualifying, it felt pretty comfortable.  As comfortable as you can do in these cars.

"I felt like I was building myself [up], that element is not too dissimilar [to last year]. I'll try and take the learnings and [come] back next weekend."