Oscar Piastri “pulled his punches” when discussing his Australian Grand Prix crash, which was a “deadset car failure” according to Aussie motorsports great Mark Skaife.
The McLaren star crashed on the reconnaissance lap before his home race after riding the kerb on the exit of Turn 4 at Albert Park, hitting the wall and ending his hopes of breaking the nation’s home podium drought.
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On-board footage showed Piastri’s revs drastically spike and hit the limiter while he was leaving the kerb.
Piastri blamed cold tyres, a large injection of unexpected battery power and himself for the incident but Supercars legend Skaife believes he was being too generous.
“They put old tyres when you do that lap to go out. So it’s got cold tyres, they’re old, and it’s come out of turn four, caught the kerb a little bit on the outside and then when they hit it with about 100 kilowatts of extra power,” Skaife said on Fox Sports’ new weekly show, MotorRacing 360.
“Oscar’s been very nice about what happened here. This is a deadset car failure. This is a Verstappen in qualifying (type incident).”
Is McLaren the right place for Piastri? | 02:24
Host Paul Murray added: “I get it, Oscar’s pulling his punches … but something is wrong.”
Skaife continued: “When you catch that little kerb, it does just unsettle the back of the car, but he was obviously just trying to guide it off the corner and it’s hit it with so much power.
“I mean, these are the best drivers in the world, right? This is a young bloke who’s as good as there is, anywhere on the planet.
“To make a mistake like that – if you’re gonna proportion it, it’s probably 10 or 20 per cent Oscar, all the rest is the car.”
The panel linked Piastri’s comments to the general concern he was not treated fairly during the 2025 F1 season as McLaren made multiple decisions which worked in his British teammate Lando Norris’ favour.
MotorRacing 360 host Jess Yates, who has spoken to both Piastri and team CEO Zak Brown in recent months, got the impression from her conversations Piastri has been told by McLaren not to step out of line with his comments.
“I gathered that he’s been told, if you go against the team, it will not serve you,” she said.
Piastri is believed to be contracted until the end of 2028 but with a get-out clause “if Lando is favoured”, according to News Corp’s James Phelps.
“Would he be better served being a No.2 in a team like McLaren, or going somewhere else and being a No.1?” he asked.
Skaife drew the comparison between Piastri’s current situation and Mark Webber’s run at Red Bull when the team prioritised Sebastian Vettel.
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