{"id":865991,"date":"2026-08-23T22:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T22:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/865991\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T22:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T22:34:11","slug":"f1-2026-oscar-piastri-fumes-over-slow-pit-stop-at-dutch-grand-prix-questions-mclaren-lack-of-pace-video-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/865991\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 2026: Oscar Piastri fumes over slow pit stop at Dutch Grand Prix, questions McLaren lack of pace, video, press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri\u2019s frustrating 2026 continued after a pit stop drama and late fade out consigned him to sixth at the Dutch Grand Prix <\/a>\u2013 and he admitted afterwards he is struggling for answers.<\/p>\n

12 months on from his epic victory at Zandvoort, Piastri looked set to challenge for the title again after an early overtake of George Russell vaulted him up to third, having qualified in fourth.<\/p>\n

Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But not for the first time, he\u2019d be let down by his own team.<\/p>\n

A poor pit stop on Lap 18 saw him grounded for 5.4 seconds \u2013 2.4 seconds longer than Russell \u2013 with the Brit retaking third position.<\/p>\n

It proved a hammer blow, with the Australian fading late to finish a distant sixth, more than 30 seconds behind McLaren teammate and winner Lando Norris.<\/p>\n

McLaren blunder undoes Piastri magic | 01:33<\/p>\n

Speaking after the race, Piastri admitted the pit error \u201cdidn\u2019t help, for sure\u201d, but said his issues ran deeper.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of that the pace just wasn\u2019t particularly good, unfortunately,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a struggle from that point on (the pit stop). Just really didn\u2019t have enough pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if he was surprised by the lack of speed \u2013 especially compared to Norris \u2013 Piastri\u2019s response was blunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n

But when pressed on whether he had any reasons why, the 25-year old replied: \u201cUnfortunately, no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piastri had even fewer answers in an interview with Sky Sports, again citing the lack of pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first lap was good \u2013 after the red flag (following Max Verstappen\u2019s lap one crash) was good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the first stint felt OK, and then after that I just had nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why, but plenty to look into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri after his sixth-placed finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

He would later add in his post-race press conference: \u201cObviously, the slow first stop was a bit painful and then the pace after that was painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was again blunt when asked what he had been missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPace,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really have any more answers than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions were also raised over Piastri beginning on hard tyres, which he admitted post-race was a mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was to start on a hard and then go to the end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it became clear pretty quickly that the hard wasn\u2019t actually great.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that side of things wasn\u2019t that much of an issue \u2026 there were a lot of different strategies and I don\u2019t think ours was really the issue of our race today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piastri was also warned by F1 legend Lewis Hamilton after a \u201cdangerous move\u201d when he was overtaken by both Ferrari drivers.<\/p>\n

Lewis warns Oscar over ‘dangerous move’ | 01:15<\/p>\n

After breaking out in spectacular fashion with a seven-win 2025 to challenge for the World Drivers Championship, 2026 has been a source of endless frustration for Piastri.<\/p>\n

He sits seventh in the standings, and has finished outside the top three at the last eight Grands Prix going back to May.<\/p>\n

McLaren have regularly been accused of prioritising Norris over the Australian, with 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill saying in the lead-up to the Dutch Grand Prix<\/a> there was \u201csome evidence\u201d of bias conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri\u2019s frustrating 2026 continued after a pit stop drama and late fade out consigned him to sixth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-865991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}