Oscar Piastri secured fourth place at the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, crossing the line 24 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli. The McLaren driver ended the race as the team’s sole finisher after Lando Norris retired with a power issue on Lap 43. Speaking after the race, Piastri reflected on a weekend that mixed good fortune with clear areas for improvement.
Kimi Antonelli won the race for Mercedes ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Isack Hadjar, with Piastri inheriting fourth after a chaotic sequence of penalties, crashes and retirements shuffled the order dramatically in the closing stages.
Piastri acknowledges his fortune at the F1 Monaco GP
After the race, Piastri was candid about the role that luck played in his 2026 F1 Monaco GP result. Starting seventh on the grid, the Australian gained positions without making a single on track overtake.
“Yeah, I mean any time you finish ahead of where you started in Monaco is normally a pretty good day. Especially when you don’t actually overtake anyone to get there,” he stated. “So, yeah, you know, we obviously took advantage of some good fortune today.”
Piastri also addressed a pit lane speeding penalty he received during the race, which he found difficult to explain. “I mean, the penalty was very weird, because, I for sure wasn’t speeding. So, that was a bit strange, but obviously we made the right call in serving it. So yeah, we were smart when we needed to be today. And that also helped with the good luck.”
Piastri’s pit lane penalty at the Monaco GP
Pressed further on the specifics of the penalty, Piastri struggled to identify where he had gone wrong during his pit lane visit. He took every precaution he could think of and still found himself penalised.
“I went as wide as I could through the whole pit lane. And I still got done. So, I honestly have no idea what the issue was,” he stated.
When asked whether he was aware that cutting a pit lane exit could trigger a speeding infringement, Piastri explained the difficult position he found himself in. “So, I mean, I got told that a lot of people had been done for speeding. So, I was still basically exiting Rascasse when I hit the pit speed limiter. And then, yeah, obviously if you take a shorter distance that can trigger it sometimes. But I was very safe with all of that. So, a very strange one.”
Piastri on the track break-up that triggered a red flag at the Monaco GP
The closing stages of the F1 Monaco GP were dramatically altered when Lance Stroll crashed at the final corner, triggering a safety car. Shortly after the Safety Car restart, Charles Leclerc suffered an identical accident at the same spot, prompting a red flag for track inspection. Piastri had watched the deteriorating surface develop throughout the race and was not entirely surprised by what happened.
“Yeah, I mean, it broke down pretty quickly. At first it kind of looked like marbles. But then you could see some of the holes in the ground. And, you know, by the end it was, yeah, it was not in a great state. So, obviously that kind of stuff could be happening,” he stated.
Piastri also said that the break-up sat directly on the racing line, making it unavoidable for drivers who ventured close to it. “Yeah. I think everyone was slowly getting tighter and tighter. Because, I think, you know, as you saw for Charles [Leclerc] and for Lance [Stroll], if you touched it or especially if you went a little bit over it, it was like ice. So, yeah, that kind of stuff just shouldn’t be happening.”
McLaren need to improve after a difficult race weekend
Despite the positive result, Piastri was clear eyed about the true state of McLaren’s F1 Monaco GP weekend. The Australian acknowledged that the team‘s outright pace was simply not where it needed to be against the other big three teams, and that several areas require attention ahead of the next round.
“Yeah, there’s a lot to improve. You know, this weekend we’ve clearly not had the pace. Just outright speed, we don’t have it. Tyre prep was definitely a problem on Friday. Whether that was still to blame on Saturday or today, I don’t really know. But we just weren’t going very fast one way or another. So, that we obviously need to improve.”
Piastri also pointed to reliability as an area of concern, with Norris’ retirement underlining the fragility of McLaren’s weekend at the Monaco GP. “Reliability from all areas, you know, the things we can control and also trying to help in the things that we can’t is important as well because we’ve obviously had a lot of issues. So, yeah, across the board, we need to improve.”
Piastri on Russell’s contact at the restart
One moment in the Monaco GP that caught attention was contact involving George Russell at the restart. Piastri, running close behind, admitted he had little clarity on what had actually happened.
“I mean, I had no idea if he had damage or it was a pretty chaotic start. So yeah, I don’t really know how that helped him, really. But I didn’t think anything of it.”
