'A big element of it was me': Piastri apologises for disastrous pre-race crash

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/piastri-oscar/MqKAIeUf/"]Piastri[/a] lost control when he hit ‌the exit kerb of turn four, skidded and slammed into a barrier, damaging his right front ‌wheel, the front wing and nose of the car.[/p][p]Third in the ‌championship last season, Piastri said he was OK on the team radio and exited ‌the car before a dejected walk back to the pit.[/p][p]Mercedes' George Russell ‌won the race ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli, while Piastri's teammate and defending champion Lando Norris finished fifth.[/p][p]Piastri, who was to have lined up fifth on the grid, said ‌he was blindsided by a surge in torque ⁠in his car but also accepted ‌some of the blame for the mishap.[/p][embed guid="13119816-f2c5-40c4-aa31-d36753a1df86" url="https://x.com/F1/status/2030486559372218682" social-type="twitter" /][p]"[b]We had a couple of things going on,[/b]" he ​said in the paddock.[/p][p]"I think the first part I want to stress is that there is certainly a big element of it ​that was me. Cold tyres, I have used that exit kerb every lap of the weekend, but I didn't have to.[/p][p]"[b]At the same time, I ⁠had about 100kW extra power ​that I didn't expect, which is not insignificant.[/b]"[/p][p]McLaren boss Zak Brown described it as "[b]a disappointing burp[/b]" for Piastri at his home race.[/p][p]"[b]I'm sure he'll be sore about that one for a while, but these race car drivers know how ‌to recover quickly, so definitely not the way you want to get started, but he'll be back.[/b]"[/p][embed guid="0804a55f-995d-4ad7-acab-65deb0ac5441" url="https://x.com/evrythngformu1a/status/2030518949645808089" social-type="twitter" /][p]F1's new engine era has proved a steep learning curve for drivers, with a number struggling with reliability problems and a new way of driving which involves more emphasis on energy deployment and regeneration.[/p][p]Overall, it was a sobering day for defending constructors champions McLaren, whose cars were well off the pace.[/p][p]Norris finished more than 50 seconds after Russell and more than 35 seconds after the third and fourth-placed Ferraris.[/p][p]He said he felt ‌McLaren were also well behind Red Bull, whose four-times world champion Max Verstappen ​climbed 14 grid places to finish sixth.[/p][p]"[b]I think it was really ‌quite clear the Red Bull was a lot quicker -- just because Max came from last and almost beat us,[/b]" Briton Norris told Sky.[/p][p]"Not the best race in terms of pace, but we struggled with some things on the car at the beginning.[/p][p]"[b]Today showed a lot more from ⁠a car that we're a very ⁠long way off and we ‌have a lot of work to do.[/b]"[/p]