Oscar Piastri crash highlights aggressive new F1 power units
McLaren’s Andrea Stella has described Oscar Piastri’s “unfortunate” crash at the Australian Grand Prix as a reflection of the aggression of the new F1 power units.
Piastri, racing at his home Grand Prix, crashed on his way to the grid after losing control of his McLaren on an exit kerb at Turn 4 and hitting the concrete wall lining the circuit. Thankfully, he was uninjured.
“We had a couple of things going on,” Piastri told the media, including PlanetF1.com, in Melbourne.
“I think the first part I want to stress is that there is certainly a big element of that was me. Cold tyres. I have used that exit kerb every lap of the weekend, but I didn’t have to.
At the same time, I had about 100 kilowatts extra power that I didn’t expect, which is not insignificant.
I think the difficult part to take is everything was working normally. It’s just the function of how the engines have to work with the rules.
It would almost be easier in some ways if we just said there’s cold tyres and I was optimistic, but when you add in another factor like that it always is more difficult to take.”
One of the McLaren drivers was eliminated before the race even started, leaving Piastri to walk back to the paddock disconsolately before addressing the media.
Piastri’s incident wasn’t the only example of drivers being caught out by the behaviour of the new F1 cars. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli also suffered a heavy crash in FP3, damaging his W17 and forcing the team into a race against the clock to repair it before qualifying.
McLaren’s Andrea Stella has provided further insight into Oscar Piastri’s Australian GP crash, highlighting the complexity of the new F1 power units.
“Here, I may be speculating a bit because the information I have is only related to Oscar, and I can’t necessarily infer that the incidents – uncharacteristic incidents, I would say, especially for Verstappen – are related to the power unit,” Stella said.
“Certainly, when it comes to Kimi Antonelli, he also lost the car in a place with high torque while the car is still under lateral load. These power units can be quite aggressive when they release full power. We talk about 1,000 horsepower coming all together, and when the tyres are cold or the power comes unpredictably, as it happened to Oscar, it can become very tricky. These accidents weren’t near misses—they’re a clear indication that there’s work to do.”
Stella emphasised that while Piastri’s retirement was heartbreaking—especially at his home race—he expects his driver to bounce back stronger.
“Oscar was very unfortunate; it was definitely a tough moment for him in front of the Australian crowd,” Stella said.
“He’s very tough mentally and will use this to get even more concentrated and determined, starting from China. We will face this as a united team in any situation.”
Stella broke down the technical factors that contributed to the crash:
“Fundamentally, there were three factors: cold tyres at wheel spin start, being on a kerb used every lap, and extra torque spikes caused by the power unit during oscillations and shifts. In testing, we might have seen similar circumstances, but not the combination of cold tyres and kerb, which aggravated the inconsistencies in torque deployment. In grip-limited phases, these spikes are particularly challenging.”
The McLaren team will analyse these issues and consider adjustments to ensure driver safety while maximising performance under the new F1 2026 regulations.
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