Australian GP news: Oscar Piastri misses Q2 benchmark, consigned to P16 or lower on grid

It was never going to be easy for Oscar Piastri at the Australian Grand Prix in an uncompetitive McLaren but a heartbreaking miss has made his chances even slimmer.

McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri (L) talks with Andrew Westacott, CEO of Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

Oscar Piastri will have an uphill battle to find his first Formula One points at the Australian Grand Prix after bombing out in Q1 by a heartbreaking four one-hundredths of a second.

Behind the wheel of an uncompetitive McLaren, the rookie Australian driver was never going to be a podium contender at Albert Park but there was optimism he could feature somewhere in the points on Sunday.

That goal now becomes much harder after the 21-year-old could only lock in a P16 start on the grid for his debut Down Under.

Though he lacked some early pace, Piastri still looked comfortable in his car through the three free practice sessions ahead of Saturday afternoon’s qualifying.

Having reached Q3 in Saudi Arabia, the Melburnian had shown enough behind the wheel for team boss Zak Brown to declare him an equal to McLaren’s incumbent star, Lando Norris, earlier this week.

Oscar Piastri bombed out in Q1 by a heartbreaking four one-hundredths of a second. Picture: Getty Images

But as Norris eased through the first qualifying stint, Piastri was caught out.

Chaos hit pit lane after Sergio Perez went into the wall early in the session, throwing teams’ plans out the window.

With a sudden scramble to bank times worthy of a Q2 entry, track traffic became an issue and Piastri was one of the drivers most impacted.

As the young gun hit the team radio complaining of an “under-balanced” car he was slowed to a near-crawl around the Albert Park track while waiting for clear air to commence a flying lap.

Running on older tyres only compounded Piastri’s problems, leading the rookie to meet the chequered flag agonisingly short of the Q2 benchmark.

“I guess a little bit of experience on my side potentially,” conceded Piastri to Sky Sports F1.

“I would say (the traffic) wasn’t the best preparation for the last lap but I think it was similar for the cars around me.

“When you’re doing that many laps on the same set of tyres I don’t think going a bit slower makes that much of a difference.”

Norris only managed marginally better than his teammate; bowing out in Q2 after a quick trip through the gravel, landing himself in P13 for Sunday’s race – more than a second slower than the top time set by Max Verstappen.

It would take a minor miracle for McLaren to achieve anything close to the P5 and P6 finishes that Norris and Daniel Ricciardo achieved at Albert Park last year.

STEWARDS HAUL PIASTRI IN OVER ‘CONCENTRATION’ ERROR

Australian young gun Oscar Piastri has received his first reprimand in Formula One for a practice start infringement after a moment of “lost concentration”.

The McLaren rookie was summoned to the FIA stewards after the final Formula One practice session before qualifying on Saturday after failing to follow the race director’s instructions in relation to the practice start procedure.

The FIA stewards summary said Piastri had “lost concentration” at the end of the practice session when he was preparing to perform a practice start, but had attempted it a “lap too early”, failing to take the chequered flag before doing so.

Piastri admitted his mistake and that it could have caused a “dangerous” situation on track, with the stewards imposing a reprimand on him.

It was Piastri’s first reprimand of the season.

“The driver admitted that he had lost concentration and was preparing to do a practice start but attempted it a lap too early, having failed to take the chequered flag before doing so,” the stewards summary said.

“After he slowed down considerably, the team warned him to complete the lap before attempting a practice start and therefore he did not go through the full practice start procedure.

“The driver candidly admitted his mistake and recognised that this could have resulted in a dangerous situation on the track.

In accordance with previous precedents for similar infringements, we imposed a reprimand on him.”

Piastri finished the final practice session in 14th position ahead of his first qualifying season at his Australian Grand Prix debut.

Oscar Piastri was reprimanded by the stewards.

IS PIASTRI AUSTRALIA’S BEST HOPE?

Piastri may be Australia’s best hope of a points finish at Albert Park this weekend – but he will have to drag an underperforming McLaren over the line to do-so.

Following one of the most wide open practice sessions in recent Formula One memory, if Piastri and McLaren can get it right a return to Q3 is on the cards and with it a genuine shot at a Sunday points finish.

But if the 21-year-old rookie is to follow in the footsteps of Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo by landing in the top-10 on his Australian Grand Prix debut, he will have to buck a worrying trend of underperforming homegrown hopefuls this weekend.

In the earlier Formula Three sprint race, Christian Mansell was the top-ranked of three Aussies in the field and even then the 18-year-old could only manage P13 for Campos Racing.

Future Formula One hopeful and Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan had his promising weekend cruelled by a horror Friday qualifying session, in which a late red flag ruined his chance at featuring near the top of the grid.

Aussie Oscar Piastri signs autographs for local fans. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

And it went from bad to worse for the son of a gun, when his race was ended seven laps from the finish after the rival Red Bull of Juan Correa put him into a spin while the pair jostled for position.

Doohan was forced to retire from the race and leave his car on-track.

Having topped the time sheet in practice, Doohan’s disastrous luck from qualifying continued into the first point scoring chance of the weekend.

He will have a chance to bank more points in Sunday’s feature race but starting so far back on the grid will make life difficult.

Thus, with his compatriots so far failing to rise to the challenge, attention now turns to Piastri and whether he can fly the flag for the locals.

He showed in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago he has the one-lap pace to reach Q3. The big question now is whether McLaren can give Piastri and teammate Lando Norris a car capable of doing the same in Melbourne.

The earlier Saturday FP3 session raised more questions than it offered answers, as even the top teams – sans Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso – struggled to get a grip on the slippery Albert Park circuit.

Ricciardo’s future has so far dominated Aussie fans’ interest this weekend. If Piastri can put his lowly McLaren into Q3 he will go a long way to swinging the pendulum back in his favour.

Godspeed, Oscar.

Oscar Piastri on the track during practice.