Why Oscar Piastri’s disastrous 2026 F1 opening salvo serves as a warning to Kimi Antonelli

On two consecutive Sundays, the P5 white box on the starting grid has been left eerily vacant and abandoned. The first was bad enough, with thousands of fans adorned in green t-shirts perched in the grandstand, named after the hometown hero, left crestfallen. But the second was more excruciating, wheeled away from the starting blocks with just five minutes to go, joining a stricken companion in the garage.

To say the least, Oscar Piastri has endured the roughest of opening salvos to the 2026 season. After his devastating pre-race crash at his home race in Melbourne, an electrical issue with his McLaren car removed him from the start line and out of the race in Shanghai. His teammate, Lando Norris, had an unrelated power unit problem of his own, with neither car participating in the Chinese Grand Prix.

It was McLaren’s first double DNS (Did Not Start) in more than two decades. Oscar Piastri has not taken part in one grand prix lap so far in 2026 (Getty) Despite his disastrous start to the year, Piastri was typically magnanimous in his reaction. “While this is never what we want to happen, this is just sometimes how it goes in racing,” he said in the media pen.

Norris, more downbeat, added: “It’s disappointing to come such a long way and put in so much effort, not just me but the whole team, and not start the race. ” Piastri is not point-less, courtesy of a sixth-place finish in the sprint race on Saturday. Yet three points to his name already leaves him 48 behind F1 championship leader George Russell .