Piastri thought last year’s British GP was frustrating, but it had nothing on this one

And Oscar Piastri thought his 2025 British Grand Prix was frustrating.

Fast-forward 12 months to Sunday’s ninth round of the 2026 Formula 1 season at Silverstone, the Melburnian would have signed up for similar dose of disappointment.

One year after a probable win went begging at Silverstone when he was hit with a contentious penalty for driving too slowly behind the safety car while leading, Piastri’s outside chance of a repeat podium lasted all of six corners on Sunday, the Australian driver making contact with the Racing Bulls car of New Zealander Liam Lawson on the first lap and breaking his McLaren’s front wing.

With too much damage to continue, Piastri pitted after two laps, dropped to the back of the field, and hoped his hard-compound Pirelli tyres would last for the remainder of the 52-lap race, or for an early safety car to trigger pit stops for his rivals while he continued to circulate.

Neither came to fruition, and Piastri crossed the line in 11th place, not spending a single lap inside the top-10 points-paying places.

With just two points for the Silverstone weekend, courtesy of his muted run to seventh place in Saturday’s sprint race, Piastri endured his worst event of the year since his disastrous start to the season at Albert Park, where he crashed on the reconnaissance laps to the grid and didn’t take part in the race.

With Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc snapping a 38-race drought with his first victory since the 2024 United States Grand Prix, and Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris finishing fourth, Piastri dropped to sixth place in the drivers’ championship with 82 points.

“I got sandwiched by the Racing Bulls on the way to turn six … [we were] three-wide down the straight, and three into one didn’t work,” Piastri said.

“I was hoping for a safety car and we eventually got one, but it was about 45 laps later than I hoped for, so that was that. There was no chance to really do anything from there.”

Second for Piastri at the British Grand Prix a year ago was a let-down given the 25-year-old had arrived at Silverstone leading the world championship having won five of the season’s opening 11 races.

One year on, second place sounds a like a pipedream for a team that has unquestionably gone backwards since winning the past two constructors’ titles, and winning last year’s drivers’ crown with Norris.

While Piastri’s tangle with Lawson – given Lawson eventually finished sixth – smacked of an opportunity lost for the Australian, McLaren again struggled to keep pace with the other three teams in F1’s top quartet that has emerged under the new regulations for the sport in 2026 in Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing, and more particularly its four-time world champion Max Verstappen.

Piastri was seventh in sprint qualifying on Friday, and stayed in the same position in the 17-lap sprint, where he visibly struggled for grip, saying afterwards that his MCL40 chassis was “a real handful” after his worst sprint result of the season.

Both Norris and Piastri were slower in qualifying for the Grand Prix than they were in sprint qualifying – Piastri by over one-quarter of a second – as McLaren’s rivals all made gains, while Piastri’s fastest race lap on Sunday (1min 32.917secs) was 1.1secs slower than the overall fastest lap set by championship leader Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), and just the ninth-fastest lap overall.

Norris’ gap to the race-winner – 1.149secs – was the closest McLaren has come to victory all season, but with the caveat that the race finished behind the safety car after Verstappen’s crash from third place with five laps remaining; when the Red Bull driver speared off on lap 47, Norris was over 41 seconds adrift.

“The pace was pretty shocking,” a frank Norris said.

“Really not happy with the car and how it was today. We stayed out of trouble, avoided mistakes and the reliability was good. But the car was so difficult today, so we have a hell of a lot to improve.”

Leclerc’s victory – his ninth in F1, drawing him level with Piastri – came after he’d finished on the podium 12 times without seeing the view from the top step since Texas in October 2024, and came after he’d only relinquished the lead for 10 laps after pole-sitter Antonelli opted for a longer opening stint to the race before pitting on lap 35, setting up a 17-lap showdown for victory when Antonelli emerged seven seconds in arrears.

Antonelli’s chances of a sixth win this season evaporated when he ran wide on lap 41 and damaged his car’s left front wheel shield, necessitating a pit stop for repairs, and he was later penalised for repeated track limits breaches as he attempted to steer his ill-handling Mercedes to the finish, dropping out of the points to finish 15th.

Leclerc’s other potential rivals – Verstappen crashed, Mercedes’ George Russell had to make an extra pit stop for a puncture, while Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton jumped the start, then lost second to Russell when Ferrari pitted him late – tripped over themselves, with Russell’s second place seeing Antonelli’s championship lead reduced to 25 points, Russell gaining 43 points on his teammate in the past three rounds to sit second overall.

Being safely ensconced inside the top two was a place Piastri became comfortable with last year. After nine rounds of 2025, Piastri had 186 points; but in 2026 McLaren as a team has managed 179 across the equivalent period.

Pragmatic in the aftermath of his worst British Grand Prix result – he’d never finished lower than fourth at Silverstone before Sunday – Piastri said Ferrari’s pace, not to mention Mercedes or the Verstappen-steered Red Bull – shows the enormity of the task ahead to get back on terms.

“We weren’t great, obviously, but we knew that from pretty early on,” he said.

“I think being such a step behind was a little bit of a surprise for us, but in some ways also not because we expected Ferrari to be quick in [the previous race in] Austria, but they weren’t … here, it wasn’t a huge surprise that they were quick.

“The fact they were able to win the race was a bit surprising, but we felt like they were definitely a step ahead of us. So, that’s where we are.”

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