Andrea Stella has spoken out on Oscar Piastri’s crash at the F1 2026 Australian GP.
At the 2026 F1 Australian GP, Oscar Piastri crashed his McLaren on the way to the grid. At his home race, he clipped the kerb and lost control of the rear of his car at turn 4. This sent him straight into the barriers and ended his race before it could begin.
A contributing factor to his crash was seemingly a sudden increase in torque, which, when combined with cold tyres and the kerb, meant that he was unable to stay in control.
Stella on Piastri’s crash at the 2026 F1 Australian GP
Speaking in a print media session after the race, Team Principal Andrea Stella commented on what happened.
He added that he has full confidence that Oscar Piastri will bounce back in China.
“Oscar, very unfortunate. Definitely a tough moment for him in front of the Australian crowd. But Oscar, let me spend a word from this point of view. A very tough guy mentally. He will use all this to get even more concentrated and determined, starting from China. So we will make sure that we all face this in a united way.
“We are a team in any situation that may involve any of our team. When it comes to the circumstances, what we observe, I think, is fundamentally three factors.
“The cold tyres, the fall when the wheelspin starts. It starts in a very sudden way. This compounds with the being on a kerb. But it’s a kerb that he has used pretty much every single lap. Kerbs don’t make this easier, though, when the tyres are cold.
“And this further compounds with an element that doesn’t make it easier again, which is the fact that with these oscillations and following the shift, there’s an extra torque. Let’s say that when we look at the behaviour of the power unit, it’s sort of expected to happen like that. But it is not something that you would do unless it’s, which I understand is the case, sort of some requirements that you need to meet in terms of how you deploy your torque.
“In testing, we might have seen some similar circumstances, but we didn’t have the combination of cold tyres and the kerb which aggravated the fact that you may have these inconsistencies from a power deployment point of view. Well, power deployment is not correct. I would say torque deployment in grip-limited phases.”
