Piastri finds positives despite early exit
Monday, 6 March 2023
The Australian's first F1® race ended abruptly with an electrical issue after only 13 laps.
Australia's Oscar Piastri was keen to accentuate the positives of finally returning to a competitive environment after his Formula 1® debut for McLaren in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix was cut short after just 13 laps.
The 21-year-old, who hadn’t raced in 447 days since his final race of his 2021 Formula 2® title-winning campaign, became the first retirement of the 2023 F1® season when his McLaren suffered an electrical failure, forcing him into the pits.
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The team changed Piastri's steering wheel in the pit stop in an attempt to cure the problem, but Piastri's MCL60 wouldn't re-start, seeing his F1® debut end after just 22 minutes of racing.
Piastri started the race from 18th on the grid after being eliminated in Q1 on Saturday and had just overtaken the Haas of German Nico Hulkenberg for 13th place when he was called into the pits after reporting he'd "lost the gearbox".
While he was disappointed with his early exit, Piastri was relieved to get his F1® debut ticked off, and enjoyed the chance to compete again after his previous three seasons – Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019, Formula 3® in 2020, and Formula 2® – all ended in championships.
"It was just nice to be back out on track in a race," he said.
"I learned last year how much I missed going racing, so to be back out there – even with a short race like today – it's a lot better than watching on the sidelines.
"My first lap was pretty reasonable, especially considering I haven't done a first lap for a while. Once I got past Hulkenberg the pace was generally not too bad. Obviously I didn't do that many laps after that, but I felt it was reasonably strong."
Piastri confirmed the team had yet to get to the bottom of the reason behind his truncated debut.
"We had some kind of electrical issue, we're not 100 per cent sure yet," Piastri said.
"We thought it might be the steering wheel, but it wasn't that. We'll have a look and see what was wrong.
"I thought that might be the fix – I was hoping that would be the fix – I tried to restart the car and nothing happened … unfortunate, but that is the world of motorsport."
Oscar's Bahrain Grand Prix by the numbers
- Started: 18th
- Finished: DNF
- Pit stops/tyres: Lap 13 (softs/retired)
- Fastest lap: 1min 40.691secs (20th), lap 3
- Points this event: 0
- Points this season: 0 (20th in world championship)
