Piastri crashes out of Australian GP before start

Home hero Oscar Piastri will not take part in Formula 1’s 2026 season-opening Australian Grand Prix after a pre-race crash.

Piastri was due to line up fifth, as the first of the two McLarens on third row, but did not make it to his grid slot.

Heading to the grid out of the pits, McLaren MCL40 snapped coming through Turn 4 and hit the wall after a spin, crunching the suspension and ending Piastri’s day before it’s really begun.

Oscar Piastri has crashed and is OUT of the Australian Grand Prix before it begins 😮#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/5prGby7dNC

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 8, 2026

Since it happened after the final grid was confirmed, Piastri’s grid slot will be vacated.

McLaren’s Zak Brown says the team “hasn’t seen anything on the data yet” and will determine the cause of the crash after the race.

“He hopped out of the car pretty quickly so he’s not given us any feedback,” Brown said.

“We’ll do a little deep dive after the race but right now we’ve got to focus on the race at hand.”

Australian GP starting grid

1 George Russell (Mercedes)
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

3 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5 N/A
6 Lando Norris (McLaren)

7 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)

11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)
12 Ollie Bearman (Haas)

13 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

15 Alex Albon (Williams)
16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

17 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac)

19 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
20 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

21 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)