Piastri reveals teenage Australian GP heartbreak

Chris Deeley
Thursday 30 March 2023 16:33

Oscar Piastri has opened up about his previous visits to the Australian Grand Prix ahead of his debut Formula 1 race at his home track.

The 21-year-old will roll up to the Albert Park circuit this weekend for McLaren, having watched on from the sidelines at Alpine's reserve driver in 2022.

"I was here [in] 2015," he said in the buildup to the race. "I was a Grid Kid, actually, for Daniil Kvyat. I was holding Daniil Kvyat’s flag and he broke down on the lap to the grid, so I never actually got to see him! It’s pretty special to have someone holding my flag this time, but hopefully I have better luck."

Piastri's McLaren team have struggled to start this season, being one of just two teams to fail to pick up a single point through the first two races – despite the rookie making it through to Q3 in Saudi Arabia last time out.

Fixing early season woes

That last outing in Jeddah saw both McLarens forced into early pit stops because of front wing damage, derailing their respective races and sending them to the back of the pack.

"I think compared to the previous two tracks," Piastri continued, optimistically, "here should be more like Saudi, I hope. The tarmac is quite similar, the layout is a bit more similar to Saudi compared to Bahrain, so hopefully that is good for us.

"I think in Saudi we showed we can get into Q3 and fight for the back end of points on our good days, so hopefully we can just have a clean race and my front wing doesn’t wipe out Lando this time! We’ll see what we can do."

Free Practice 1 for the race starts at 0230 BST on Friday, a weekend of running which culminates in the race at 0600 BST on Sunday.

READ MORE: F1 Driver Salaries: How much do Hamilton, Verstappen and co earn?