Oscar Piastri bemoans recurring bad luck after latest Dutch GP disappointment

ZANDVOORT – Oscar Piastri has admitted the disappointing plight he experienced in the Dutch Grand Prix has become a recurring theme in the 2026 season that he needs to investigate.

Piastri trailed home sixth at Zandvoort, over 32 seconds behind his McLaren team-mate, Lando Norris, who converted pole position into a second consecutive race win.

Oscar Piastri bemoans lack of luck in latest disappointment

The Australian appeared well-placed to stand alongside Norris on the podium when he capitalised on the standing restart on Lap 5 to regain the position he had lost to Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari on the opening lap and snatch third from George Russell.

“I think Turn 1 here, every time I started fourth, well, in the Sprint and the first start, I got pinched on the inside, and you get a bit stuck, and starting in fifth and being able to go around the outside actually was a lot nicer because I could pick up one,” Piastri told PlanetF1 and accredited media.

“Then I think George’s power unit selected reverse down the straight to Turn 7, and I picked up one more.

“So, that was a bonus and then it unfortunately went pretty downhill for me.”

However, a slow McLaren pitstop on Lap 18 cost Piastri a place to Russell, a setback he was unable to recover from in the second stint as he then lost out to the Ferrari duo.

Piastri has revealed that the original thinking behind taking on the hard compound at the restart was to avoid a pitstop, but he denied it was the reason his race unravelled.

“The idea was to start on a hard and then go to the end,” he divulged.

“Well, we used the other hard [tyre] as well, but it became clear pretty quickly that the hard wasn’t actually great.

“I think that side of things wasn’t that much of an issue. Obviously, the slow first stop was a bit painful and then the pace after that was painful.

“So I think there was a lot of different strategies and I don’t think ours was really the issue of our race today.”

Piastri, who has now gone 12 months without a grand prix win, has acknowledged that his dwindling pace during the race was not an occurrence limited to Zandvoort.

“There’s not really one clear issue,” he said.

More reaction to the Dutch GP on PlanetF1.com

Lewis Hamilton points to Mercedes example after Ferrari strategy frustration

Max Verstappen reacts to major crash during Dutch Grand Prix

“I think the first stint, things felt reasonable. There was a bit of a tough period in the middle, but by the end of the stint, it felt pretty good.

“And then, yeah, the second stint on the hards was okay for the first five laps and then a mess and I’m not really sure what the end was like.

“So obviously once the Ferraris got passed as well, I went through all the marbles and picked up a load of crap on my tyres too, but unfortunately, it’s not the first race where the pace just hasn’t been there. We need to have done a bit more.”

Piastri suspects his sporadic struggles relative to Norris this season are deep-rooted in his driving style rather than being related to how the pair set up McLaren’s MCL39.

Asked whether a difference in car set-up could explain the drastic disparity in pace compared to his team-mate, Piastri retorted: “In the set-up, not really.

“I mean, I think in the driving style, there clearly must be something.

“I think in qualifying this weekend, I felt much more comfortable and through Q1 and Q2, okay, Q3 I didn’t quite maximise it, but I was there in the fight and in the race, the story just wasn’t the same at all. Yeah, I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Piastri pinpointed the rear end as the one overriding area of McLaren’s 2026 challenger that he has struggled to get to grips with since the campaign commenced.

“I think in the races, just the rear of the car is very tricky to drive and even in qualifying the last few weekends, it’s been difficult,” he explained.

“This weekend in qualifying that was much nicer and I felt much more confident and I think at certain points in the race today, I felt a lot better with that, but just the pace just hasn’t been there. Again, it’s not the first race this year that’s been the case.

“Some have been good, some have been very strong, but there’s been too many now that have been really a long way off.”

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read next: Wolff defends Mercedes’ Dutch GP team orders decision