Piastri finished only 16th in qualifying after a disappointing Q1 exit, but the home favourite took advantage of several Safety Cars and red flags.
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In a thrilling Australian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri earned his first-ever F1 points by taking eighth place, earning some late applause from the sold-out Melbourne crowd. Piastri finished only 16th in qualifying after a disappointing Q1 exit, but the home favourite took advantage of several Safety Cars and red flags, as well as a number of overtakes, to move into the top 10 on race day. “Yeah, happy to be in the points. What better place to do it than at home,” the Australian rookie said.
“I think we were there when it mattered and, whatever bad luck we had in the first two races, I think came out as good luck today, so we avoided all the carnage there at the end when we needed to be. I think in clean air, the pace was pretty solid for both me and [team mate] Lando [Norris]. For me, [I] just got stuck behind Yuki [Tsunoda] for too long and kind of got dragged out of the race, so a few things to improve from my side, but for now just happy to be in the points at home.”
After three rounds, McLaren moves up from last place in the constructors’ standings to fifth thanks to Piastri’s points and Norris’ P6 finish. The Australian hopes he and McLaren can build on their successful performance for the remainder of the season now that teams have some time to refocus before the next round, which will be held in Azerbaijan in late April.
Carlos Sainz was miffed that he had dropped from fourth to 12th place at the finish line of the Australian Grand Prix due to a penalty for colliding with Fernando Alonso. Sainz and Alonso engaged in a wheel-to-wheel battle into Turn 1 on the penultimate restart of a race that featured numerous Safety Cars and red flags, with the Ferrari driver sending his Aston Martin rival into a spin. Before the final restart and lap to the finish, when his engineer informed Sainz of the penalty, the Spaniard was heard yelling over the radio and pleading with the stewards to hold off until he had spoken with them in person.
“Oh, sorry. Right now, I cannot talk. I’m too angry, too disappointed, too… I just cannot say anything,” the Spaniard said when asked about the matter post race. “I prefer to go to the stewards, get the penalty away, because I don’t think I deserve it and it’s the most unfair penalty I’ve seen in my life. I will go first to the stewards. I needed to come first to the TV pen; if I don’t come [here] they put me in another penalty, so…”
