Oscar Piastri reveals positives from short-lived F1 debut

Piastri in Bahrain — Photo: © LAT Images

McLaren

Piastri reveals positives from short-lived F1 debut

Piastri retired on lap 12 of the Bahrain Grand Prix

Sam Hall

Wednesday 8 March 2023 13:55

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Oscar Piastri has revealed the 'ticked boxes' from his F1 debut that left him satisfied despite his early retirement from the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Australian rookie was forced out of the Sakhir race on lap 12 with an electrical problem after a steering wheel switch failed to cure the issue.

Despite a difficult weekend for the team - Lando Norris also retiring in the closing stages after managing a pneumatic problem throughout - Piastri maintained there were plenty of positives.

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"I think the start of the race and the grid procedure, someone in front of me stopped in the wrong box – I don’t know if it was Logan (Sargeant) or someone else, but there was a bit of a last-minute move into the correct box," said Piastri. “It all happened pretty quickly but the launch was really good. I didn’t get the cleanest run into turn one with Tsunoda, but I thought my first lap was reasonable.

“After that, I was in the DRS train and not able to do much until some other people had some tyre deg and then I managed to pass Hulkenberg.

“All in all, I think a lot of boxes ticked from the start and I obviously was clear myself. I think it was positive to that point.”

Piastri reveals 'laps of suffering'

Although Piastri's race-ending problem only became evident through his onboard camera on his final tour back to the pit lane, he conceded to carrying the issue for a time before this.

“I would say it probably started a couple of laps before I stopped, just a few things flashing up on the dash that were a bit unexpected," he added.

"But then it started messing with the gear shifts and stuff like that.

“Obviously, not ideal, but not much more to say on that.”

Asked what had happened after the steering wheel had been changed, Piastri said: “It wouldn’t fire up.

"I’m not 100 per cent sure what went wrong. We thought it was the steering wheel, based on what was happening, but it wasn’t that.

“We will diagnose what was wrong.”

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