It seems Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t the problem at McLaren after all.
Australian Oscar Piastri has endured a nightmare Formula One debut, as engine failure meant he failed to finish the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Piastri started 18th on the grid and had drove admirably in the early stages of the race, gaining three places, but his first F1 Grand Prix ended in disaster.
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He was called into the pits on lap 15, with his team telling him they would have to change his steering wheel.
Piastri had to turn off his car for the steering wheel change but his McLaren wouldn’t restart and he was forced to retire from the race.
“I lost the gear box,” a glum Piastri was heard telling McLaren over team radio.
“The engine was completely dead,” Sky Sports commentator Ted Kravitz said.
“I guess he had to turn it off before he came into box but now he’s shaking his head and what a miserable start.
“We’re all expecting him to have a stellar Grand Prix career but this is not the first Grand Prix he wanted. He’s shaking his head.”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown said: “Looks like he has some sort of electrical issue, gearbox related issue on track, which I think was electronic related.
“We changed steering wheels but that doesn’t seem to have done the trick so we’ll have to diagnose what it is.”
The opening race of the season was an utter disaster for McLaren, with Lando Norris finishing 17th — the last of the drivers who completed the race.
Norris had mechanical issues of his own and had to do six pit stops in an attempt to fix engine problems.
“Oh my god,” 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg said when asked to describe McLaren’s first race of the season.
“Lando had an extremely rough pit stop. Piastri had the problem. They’re slow, they don’t really know why. That’s a rough start unfortunately.
“It’s tough for Lando. He’s ready to fight for wins and world championships and he’s stuck there a little bit now and struggling.”
It was hardly the start McLaren would have wanted for its new driver pairing after making the call to sack Daniel Ricciardo last year with a season remaining on his contract.
Two-time reigning champion Max Verstappen started 2023 where he left off, leading from start to finish to claim a dominant win — his first ever in Bahrain.
His teammate Sergio Perez finished second and Fernando Alonso got on the podium in a dream start at Aston Martin.
It appears Aston Martin has made the biggest jump of the midfield teams, and Lance Stroll finished sixth — an impressive effort considering he broke his wrist in a bike accident two weeks ago and drove the race with a broken toe.
Seven different teams featured in the top 10 and scored championship points.
Bahrain Grand Prix results
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Sergio Perez, Red Bull,
3) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
5) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
6) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
7) George Russell, Mercedes
8) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
9) Pierre Gasly, Alpine
10) Alex Albon, Williams
11) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
12) Logan Sargeant, Williams
13) Kevin Magnussen, Haas
14) Nyck De Vries, AlphaTauri
15) Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
16) Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo
17, Lando Norris, McLaren
18) Esteban Ocon, Alpine (DNF)
19) Charles Leclerc (DNF)
20) Oscar Piastri, McLaren (DNF)