Oscar Piastri has admitted “everything that could have gone wrong did” as he went from challenging for victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix to a painful retirement – via an unusual run-in with Carlos Sainz’s Williams.
Piastri started Sunday’s race from third on the grid but charged past Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc off the line, and then pulled a smart cut-back move on McLaren team mate Lando Norris at Turn 2, to take the lead.
He continued P1 for the opening half of the race, only for drama to strike shortly after his second pit stop – Piastri having to work his way through a pack of traffic and making contact with Sainz between Turns 2 and 3.
That incident, combined with Norris’ rapid pace in clean air, meant Piastri fell behind in the intra-team battle, before his day went from bad to worse with an apparent gearbox failure some 15 laps from the chequered flag.
“Obviously pretty disappointed,” said Piastri, when he returned to the paddock and faced the world’s media in the TV pen.
“I feel like Lap 1 was good, the first stint in general was reasonable, I felt, then I struggled for pace on the hard [tyres]. The pace was not good, but I had track position, and I felt like even though I was struggling, I could hang on.
“From that point onwards, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong did.”
Asked about his mindset heading into the summer break, given that turbulent afternoon, Piastri added: “I mean, just try and reset, and find some pace.
“On the strategy side, you don’t plan strategy for getting taken out by a backmarker, so… I can’t blame the team at all for that.
“We’ll just try and improve over the break, have a bit of time to reset, and come back again.”
Norris went on to claim victory for McLaren, their first of the 2026 season, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli completed the podium in Piastri’s absence.
