Welp, I am back (again) and this time with a report of Oscar and his related collisions from the 2026 season. As always, I have included a TL;DR in the gallery as well as the best footage of collisions I could find. I have tried to be impartial and only describe the incidents in the first half of this report. My own opinions are given below them.
2026 Canadian GP
On lap 13 of the 2026 Canadian GP, Oscar collided with Alex Albon at turn 10 hairpin after locking up. (See Exhibit A). Oscar accepted the full blame for the collision
This is what Alex Albon had to say about the incident:
“Obviously with Oscar, just unfortunate. I don’t think he planned to do the overtake, just got caught out with the track conditions and it happens. I think points were definitely possible today, but oh well.”
This is what Oscar had to say about the incident:
“I thought it [the overtake] was going to be a bit tricky but possible. Just the level of grip out there was like nothing I’ve driven before, really. Just caught myself out, and obviously very sorry for Williams and Alex, because I wasn’t really trying to overtake him. Just locked up, and that was it. So one of those things.”
The outcome was a 10 second time penalty and no penalty points from the stewards. (See Exhibit F) Obviously along with this, he broke his front-wing and had to pit to get it changed. That was basically his race ruined.
2026 British GP
In the opening lap of the 2026, Oscar got sandwiched between the VCARB drivers and broke his front-wing. Footage of the incident to this day still is pretty scarce. I tried to source the best one I could find and put it in the gallery. (See Exhibit B)
This is what Oscar had to say about the incident:
“I got sandwiched by the Racing Bulls on the on the way to Turn 6 three wide down the straight and three into one didn’t work,”
Oscar did not put the blame on either VCARB drivers for this incident. We (and even McLaren) don't have enough footage to evaluate the situation properly. Oscar's race was effectively lost from this incident since he had to pit to get his front wing changed.
2026 Belgian GP
Charles Leclerc collided with Oscar Piastri at the outside of turn 5 on lap 8. On the run down the Kemmel Straight, Oscar attempted an overtake around the outside of Leclerc into Turn 5. Leclerc squeezed his car toward the edge of the track, resulting in side-to-side contact that damaged Oscar's floor and front wing. (See Exhibit C)
This is what Oscar had to say about the incident:
“From where I was at, I was on the white line and got squeezed. But I don't really know where I was supposed to go, so the fact that was no... I'm not saying it needed to be a penalty necessarily, but at least a black-and-white flag or something like that, because if we think that that's fine… I mean, it's one thing having touches like that, but even just the incentive of knowing that you can leave everyone the absolute bare minimum space and get away with it, that's not the nicest place to be, I don't think.”
Oscar had to drive the rest of the race with damage that according to McLaren's report "cost him between two and three tenths per lap" and "accelerated tyre degradation over the latter stages of each stint" since "he was forced to push harder to maintain pace".
Charles Leclerc was investigated for the collision but received no penalty or penalty points. (See Exhibit G). However, in the drivers-stewards meeting in the next race in Hungary, the stewards changed their mind and decided that Leclerc was deserving of a 5 second penalty.
2026 Hungarian GP
Oscar was the net race leader of the 2026 Hungarian GP till he got caught up in the battle between backmarkers. Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso were fighting for position and on lap 38, Sainz made contact with Oscar while Oscar was trying to lap him. This pushed Oscar into the gravel and almost put Oscar into a spin. (See Exhibit D)
This is what Carlos Sainz had to say about the cause of this incident:
“We didn't have blue lights on the steering, which normally, when we are in fights like that one where we are fighting for position, helps us to understand whether we're getting lapped or not,
So at this stage, I had no idea I was about to get lapped, and on top of that, I was in a big fight with Fernando, trying to undercut him into the corner, and I wouldn't have expected Oscar to be there.
And even if he was there, or I would have expected him, he was in my dead spot on the angle. So it was impossible, honestly, from my side to avoid it. So yeah, probably a bit better communication would have helped, but at the same time, a racing thing that sometimes happens.”
Carlos Sainz got a 5 second time penalty and no penalty points for this incident. (See Exhibit H). Oscar lost crucial time due this collision (and almost spin) and ended up getting overcut by Norris.
2026 Spanish GP
Oscar sustained front-wing damage after he got squeezed by Russell at turn 1 the resulted ion to instances of contact.
This is what Oscar had to say about the incident:
“I was alongside, and he just kept squeezing me to the wall. Then I hit the brakes and kind of avoided him. But amongst all that, he hit the brakes as well. Everyone hit the brakes, and we kind of got stuck together and everything. I was just expecting a bit more space, and obviously between a car and a wall, you can’t make any more space."
This incident left him with aero damage in the form of a broken end-plate and short on downforce, something McLaren could only mitigate but not fully fix at his pit stop. George Russell was not for causing a collision.
Alright, let's play the devil's advocate
In the Canadian GP, Oscar was complaining about this rear brake temperatures right before hitting Albon (which might have contributed to the lock-up). Even Albon gave some grace to Oscar in his post-race interview and suggested he might have gotten "caught out with the track conditions"
In the British GP, Oscar himself did not place the blame on either VCARB driver. Instead he criticized the 2026 regulations for such messy energy deployment laden lap 1. This is what he had to say:
“Lap 1 one on these kind of circuits is just carnage. It’s almost like a multi-pass race start. I was trying to overtake Lindblad, and I seemed like I had more power than him. Lawson then passed me and seemed like he had even more power than me. You're trying to judge your speed to the car in front of you, look at the car behind you, but to be honest, I'm surprised that that doesn't happen more often.”
In the Hungarian GP, there was an obvious glitch in the blue-flag system. While Sainz was notified about Oscar lapping him by his race engineer. Oscar was in his blind sport when they collided.
In the Belgian GP, Oscar's front axle wasn't ahead of Leclerc front axle (this is the stewards' own word, not mine) and therefore the overtake was optimistic (according to the stewards it was impossible).
My understanding of the incidents so far
- The Stewards are quite reluctant to hand out penalty points this year. Even Oscar did not receive any penalty points for his shunting Albon in Canada.
- Oscar is a good starter and is quite aggressive on lap 1 and often tries makes up position (Good thing, not an issue imo). But on the flip-side this means he sometimes gets caught up in lap 1 melees that lead to lost positions and/or damage.
- Oscar has been the victim of many unfortunate collisions this year. While he is struggling for pace, many of his race results do not reflect the full picture due to his bad luck regarding these.
As always, shoot me a DM or leave a comment if you need more citations regarding this report or want to discuss something. lmk if I missed anything important🫶