Sawt Falasteen - Piastri blames himself after blowing Australian Grand Prix chance

The Australian was battling with teammate and eventual winner Lando Norris when he pushed too hard and skidded onto the grass on lap 44 at Albert Park.

It deprived him of the chance to win in front his home fans and McLaren of a likely one-two finish.

"Pretty disappointing. It felt like for every lap, apart from one, I drove an incredibly strong race, just a shame to not have the result to go with it," he said.

"I don't have anyone to blame but myself. I was a bit unfortunate to get stuck (in the grass) the way I did.

"It was only myself that put me there."

Despite the error, his drive leading up to that justified the pre-race hype around McLaren's pace, cementing their status as the team to beat.

Piastri recovered to finish ninth and at least earn his team two points.

"For me, the big positive is the other 56 laps of the race," he said.

"It felt like I had strong pace in all conditions. That's what I will try to take away. Just a shame to not have a better result."

McLaren chief Zak Brown said he felt "terrible" for Piastri who "drove such a brilliant race".

"He drove great to get back to P9," added Brown.

J.AbuShaban--SF-PST