Damon Hill thinks Oscar Piastri has come to a depressing realisation about McLaren this season

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Formula 1 hasn’t seen a driver fail to start two Grand Prix races at the start of a season for a long time, but McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has now achieved that unfortunate feat.

After crashing in front of thousands of his fans on a reconnaissance lap in Melbourne, Oscar Piastri at least made it onto the grid at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The benefit of Sprint weekends means that Piastri has already scored his first points for McLaren in 2026, but the opportunity to add to that tally on Sunday was taken away from him by a mechanical fault.

Is Lando Norris’ championship title defence already over?

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You have to go back to the days of pre-qualifying to witness drivers entering back-to-back race weekends without starting a Grand Prix, but contrasting Piastri’s seven victories last season with this makes him unique among F1’s 76-year history.

Damon Hill has now commented on Piastri’s woes and the start of the sport’s new regulations in general, and thinks the Australian driver is quickly realising how massive the opportunity he missed last season really was.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Damon Hill thinks the 2026 F1 season has been ‘very depressing’ for Oscar Piastri

Speaking about the various retirements and DNS at the Chinese Grand Prix during Channel 4’s broadcast, Hill commented: “I mean, technically, these are very difficult [regulations].

“It’s the start of new regulations. There’s a lot to learn, and they’re incredibly complicated. So I think that is part of Formula 1.

“You know, you go back a long way, that would be normal. Cars not finishing, they break down, because to get a car to the end was actually what the point of Grand Prix racing was.

“It was. Can you do the distance? And first of all, if you can finish first, even better.”

Piastri and Norris both failed to start in China, with only 15 cars managing to take the chequered flag.

Zak Brown was left incredibly frustrated by McLaren’s inability to start either car, and Hill was then asked specifically about Piastri failing to start his second race in a row and explained: “Yeah, very, very depressing for him because I think he can see now that even if they get the car running, they haven’t got a front-running car as yet.

“So, to win a championship this year is not going to happen, and he had an opportunity last year.

“So, yes, it’s not been great for him, has it?”

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Oscar Piastri must follow in Jack Brabham’s footsteps to achieve his F1 championship goal

There have only been three instances in Formula 1 history where a driver has failed to score a point during the first two Grand Prix of the season and gone on to win the championship.

Piastri has an unfair head start, having finished sixth in the Sprint Race in China, but the stat would still apply if he went on to win the drivers’ championship.

Alberto Ascari in 1952 and Jochen Rindt in 1970 both failed to score points in the first two rounds of their respective championships.

However, Australia’s first F1 champion, Jack Brabham, went one better. After retiring from the Argentinian Grand Prix and being disqualified from the next race in Monaco, Brabham then didn’t take part in the final Indy 500 to be included as part of the drivers’ championship.

Brabham went on to win the next five races and secure the title, before every British team boycotted the penultimate race in Monza due to safety concerns.

Piastri’s challenge is very different to Brabham’s, both in terms of the length of the season and the competitiveness of his McLaren.

It doesn’t help that Norris and Piastri seem to disagree on what’s going wrong at McLaren right now.