Ted Kravitz ‘puzzled’ by how Zak Brown reacted to Oscar Piastri’s Australian Grand Prix crash.
Ted Kravitz has questioned McLaren CEO Zak Brown’s reaction to Oscar Piastri’s heartbreaking crash that ended his Australian Grand Prix before he had even reached the grid.
8 Mar 2026
Ben Evans
F1 Oversteer

Speaking on Ted’s Notebook from inside the Melbourne paddock, Ted Kravitz shared his reaction to the incident and how Zak Brown explained away Piastri’s error. He said: “I can only just feel so sorry for everybody, all the Oscar fans out there and for him and his family. It just really hit me hard that did, the Oscar thing. It really did. I was just gutted about it. I’ll tell you what was happening, actually. And what did you think of Zak Brown’s reaction?”

“He was like, ‘OK, you know, yeah, I’m unhappy about it, but we’ve got to dust ourselves off.’ I was a bit puzzled about it before. I thought that it was obviously a sort of coping mechanism. He was kind of OK, but I think it was a coping mechanism when Oscar went out. That he was like, ‘Well, you know, we got to pick ourselves up and carry on with the other car that we’ve got.’”

‘Puzzled’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/ted...nd-prix-crash/


The first Ted's Notebook of the season! | Ted's Qualifying Notebook | Australia
Mar 7, 2026
Sky Sports F1
Ted Kravitz shares his thoughts on the 2026 Australian Grand Prix Qualifying session.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3dhNAqk-_g


Ted rounds up a hectic season opener ���� | Ted's Notebook | Australian Grand Prix
Mar 8, 2026
Sky Sports F1
Ted Kravitz gives his thoughts and insights on the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybF6pd0sxOc


Andrea Stella: Oscar Piastri Australia crash shows extent of ‘aggressive’ new F1 power units
9 Mar 2026
Thomas Maher
PlanetF1.com

McLaren’s Andrea Stella says Oscar Piastri’s “unfortunate” crash in Australia is indicative of the aggression of the new F1 power units. Piastri’s wasn’t the first crash of the weekend in which a driver was caught out by unexpected behaviour. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli smashed his W17 in a crash during FP3, leaving his team up against it to get the car repaired in time for qualifying. During qualifying itself, Max Verstappen lost control of his Red Bull RB22 on approach to Turn 1 and flew off into the barriers, leaving him facing a back-of-the-grid starting position.

Such incidents, Stella said, show that the F1 teams all have work to do to fully get to grips with the power units and ensuring predictable behaviour of the cars. “Here, I may be speculating a bit because the information I have is only related to Oscar, and I can’t necessarily infer that the incidents – uncharacteristic incidents, I would say, especially for Verstappen – I’m not sure if it has to do with the power unit or not,” he said. “Certainly, when it comes to Kimi Antonelli, he also lost the car in a place in which there’s a lot of torque coming while the car is still subject to lateral load.”

“I think it requires a little bit of attention in terms of associating it with the regulations, necessarily. Certainly, these power units can be quite aggressive when they release all the power. We talk about 1000 horsepower coming all together, and when the tyres may be a little bit on the cold side, or if this power comes in an unpredictable way, as it happened to Oscar, then it can become very tricky. So I don’t want to be here saying I have an easy solution. But I’m here saying we should look into the regulations. These accidents were not a near miss. They are very material indication that there’s work to do. So we should do this work as the F1 community.”

“These power units can be quite aggressive”;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/oscar-...f1-power-units


McLaren reveal cause of shock Oscar Piastri crash
It was a shocking start to the new season for Oscar Piastri. Here's why.
8 Mar 2026
Ian Parkes
RacingNews365

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has revealed the "three factors" that led to Oscar Piastri's shock Australian Grand Prix crash even before a wheel had turned in anger. As to what unfolded with Piastri's crash, Stella added: "When it comes to the circumstances, what we observe is fundamentally three factors: [first], the cold tyres, and when the wheel spin starts, it starts in a very sudden way.”

"[And] These compounds, with them being on a kerb - a kerb that he has used pretty much every single lap - they don't make this easier, though, when the tyres are cold. And this further compounds, with an element that doesn't make it easier again, which is the fact that with these oscillations and following the shift, there's extra torque, let's say, that when we look at the behaviour of the power unit.”

"It is not something that you would do unless, and which I understand is the case, there are some requirements that you need to meet in terms of how you deploy your torque. In testing, we might have seen some similar circumstances, but we didn't have the combination of cold tyres and the kerb, which aggravated the fact that you may have these inconsistencies from torque deployment in grip-limited phases."

"Three factors";

https://racingnews365.com/mclaren-re...-piastri-crash


52s adrift: Where McLaren is lacking the most
9 Mar 2026
JON NOBLE
The Race

McLaren's admission to being "a little puzzled" about why it was so much slower on the straights in Australia than the works Mercedes team has fuelled talk of a new reality for customer teams. We have just come off a rules era in which McLaren showed you could still win Formula 1 titles by buying an engine off somebody else. As downforce levels, ride control and tyre temperature management defined the pecking order, McLaren's mastery in these areas helped it win the constructors' crown in 2024 and the championship double last year. Things have changed now though. In the wake of F1 2026's rules revolution, McLaren is on the hunt for answers as to why in Australia it was 0.8 seconds off Mercedes in qualifying and finished the race more than 50 seconds behind.

Mercedes and customers in Australian GP
1 George Russell (Mercedes)
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +2.974s
--
5 Lando Norris (McLaren) +51.741s
10 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 lap
12 Alex Albon (Williams) +1 lap
14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2 laps
15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2 laps

Part of the explanation comes from the car, as the McLaren was not the best through the corners - and the front graining that was a problem at times in the past appears to be back. But it has not gone amiss that GPS data showed a big chunk of the time it lost was coming on the straights - where the works Mercedes squad appeared to be able to deploy more power. And, with identical engines, there is no obvious explanation for that discrepancy.

‘52s adrift’;

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/m...1-2026-factor/