Oscar Piastri managed to have one of the best and worst races of his career on Sunday.
His start was impressive – overtaking Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and passing fellow pole-sitter Lando Norris on the opening lap to lead the Hungarian Grand Prix.
After a poor start to his 2026 campaign, it looked like this was Piastri’s time, a legitimate chance for a major tournament win or a podium.
Piastri managed to hold off Norris for almost half the race. Then it all went pear shaped.
McLaren decided to put Piastri on lap 34 and chose to keep Norris out to avoid Lewis Hamilton beating the McLarens. Piastri went into the pits, but was later caught behind the rear marks (slower cars that are about to be hit) including Carlos Sainz, who cut his front wheel.
“Get out of the f—ing way, idiot! Oh my God,” Piastri said on the radio.
Moments later, Norris – who had spent a long time on his second set of tires – was able to pit and get ahead of Piastri.
The Australian race engineer informed Piastri over the team radio that the collision with Sainz had cost him the race lead.
“Hey, mate, don’t talk to me now,” Piastri said in an unusual display of frustration.
Piastri went on to criticize McLaren’s strategy, suggesting they put him in a situation where he would encounter traffic.
“I’m glad you guys explained that in a way, thanks,” he said.
On lap 56, Piastri’s McLaren came to a stop on the side of the track, with a suspected gearbox failure. With 14 laps to go, his race was over and the Australian added another DNF to his resume.
Norris went on to claim his first win of the season, with Dutchman Max Verstappen second and world championship leader Kimi Antonelli third.
To say that the year 2026 has been challenging for Piastri would be easy.
The Australian crashed out of his home tournament in March, the victim of an unfortunate combination of cold tires, a torque spike and driver error. Then there were the electrical issues in Shanghai, when his McLaren was unceremoniously pulled from the grid before the formation lap.
There have been visions of possible resurrection, and a podium finish in Miami and Japan and a close call in Austria, followed by contact with Charles Leclerc at the Belgian Grand Prix, eliminating podium chances.
The Australian star also had to deal with growing speculation about the safety of his seat amid reports that Verstappen wants to end his tenure at Red Bull.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said it was good to see Norris and Piastri “fighting at the start for a good position”, hailing it as a “great race”.
“Oscar had his own chance to lead and see what pace he could have,” he told Sky Sports.
“The way the race went meant that with Oscar we covered Hamilton and then there was a situation with the beauties. Lando was very quick once he got the lead and he took advantage of the speed and the fact that there was a delay for Oscar.
“That’s a race. We’re a McLaren race. It was a good race.”
Speaking to the media after the race, Piastri seemed more composed, and was his usual straightforward self.
“I feel disappointed,” he said.
“I feel like one lap was good, first place overall was reasonable and then I struggled for speed on the hard … but I had a chance to follow, and I felt like even though I was struggling, I felt like I could hold on, but from that point on, almost everything that could go wrong did.
“In terms of strategy, you don’t plan a strategy to get out with the man behind, so I can’t blame the team for that.
“So (I’ll try to) improve during the break. Have a little time to reset and come back again.”
The F1 season will now go on a mid-year break before the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
Earlier this weekend, the FIA announced Malaysia’s Sepang circuit would host a Formula 1 race for the first time since 2017 as host of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The race will be held on October 4.
News, results and expert analysis from the sporting weekend are posted every Monday. Subscribe to our Sports newsletter.
Hannah Kennelly is an award-winning sports reporter and Formula 1 columnist at The Age.Connect through email address.
