Oscar Piastri responds to McLaren conspiracy theory repost drama

McLaren F1 star Oscar Piastri has responded to a social media controversy which saw his account repost a conspiracy theory.

GPFans posted a graphic about Bernie Ecclestone's recent quotes in which the ex-F1 CEO claimed McLaren 'preferred' Lando Norris because he was British.

That post was uploaded to Instagram by us on November 4, but Piastri's account could be seen to have reposted it earlier this week.

That led to speculation about why Piastri might have reposted that particular graphic, with it being widely accepted that the repost button is a relatively new feature on Instagram and that it could have been done accidentally.

Now, Piastri has confirmed that was the case, speaking to F1 media about the incident following a qualifying session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix in which he could only manage fifth.

"I don't know," Piastri said when asked about how the repost happened after qualifying.

"I woke up this morning and saw it, so I don't know, maybe I accidentally did it. Obviously, it was not intentional. But yeah, I didn't know what had happened. So I don't know."

Piastri's account swiftly deleted the repost, with an account on X confirming that it no longer appeared on his Instagram profile.

What did Bernie Ecclestone say about McLaren?

The graphic shared by GPFans on Instagram concerned Ecclestone's quotes given to Sport.De in which he said: "McLaren prefers the English driver Norris. He has more star power and marketing qualities for them, more camera presence and public exposure. That's why it's probably better for McLaren."

These quotes played into conspiracy theories that have arisen on social media amid Norris and Piastri's world championship fight, theories that McLaren themselves have rubbished.

Claims that McLaren favour Norris largely began to circulate after a decision was made by the team at the Italian GP to swap Norris and Piastri around following a botched pit stop for the Brit, a decision that caused a points swing in the championship battle.

Norris has since gone on to take a commanding lead in the standings, and sits 24 points ahead of Piastri with three race weekends remaining, but fans have refused to let the moment go and have frequently booed the 26-year-old at recent races as a result.

CEO Zak Brown has constantly reiterated that McLaren have two number one drivers in F1 and that neither Piastri nor Norris get preference, recently telling the Beyond the Grid podcast: "We won't do it [play favourites]. We're racers and we're going racing."

F1 HEADLINES: Lewis Hamilton LAST as 'unacceptable' penalty slammed at Las Vegas GP

Related