Oscar Piastri had the opportunity to be a grid kid for Daniel Ricciardo at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, but the then-Red Bull driver crashed on the way to the grid and so the young driver didn’t get the chance to meet him.
At the season-opening 2026 Australian Grand Prix, Piastri suffered the same fate as Ricciardo when he crashed during the reconnaissance laps at the Albert Park Circuit. And unfortunately for his grid kid, he also did not get to meet the McLaren driver.
“I think he broke down on the way to the grid, but yes, same outcome,” Piastri confirmed to the media in Shanghai.
“I didn’t get to meet the grid kid that I was supposed to have, unfortunately. I’ve made contact with him and sent him a video, but yes, strange coincidence that 11 years later the same outcome’s there.”
The Australian driver explained that since the disappointing start to his season, he has been working to understand what happened.
“Just trying to understand,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of things to understand from the weekend in general, obviously understanding how Sunday went so wrong, but I think I understood the factors that went into it pretty quickly and then focused on all the things I’ve got to try and do this weekend to be as fast as I can.
Car of Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Mark Horsburgh / LAT Images via Getty Images
“That’s been the good thing about coming straight into another race.
The good thing about having so many things to focus on is it’s pretty easy to shift your focus onto the future.
“It was fine. I played some padel, saw my family, which was nice because probably two of the 20 days of the year I actually get to see them. Just saw them and chilled out for a bit.”
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