Oscar Piastri has revealed how experience on Jeremy Clarkson’s farm helped him to recover from his Australian Grand Prix disaster.
Running second, just behind team-mate Lando Norris on Lap 44 of his home GP, the McLaren pair were caught out by a rain shower, with both skating off at Turn 11.
Unfortunately for Piastri, he was too close, and thus too far through the corner, to react, having seen Norris go wide and slid through the grass, becoming beached.
The FOM timing tower recorded him as posting a DNF, but the Melbourne-native managed to free his MCL39, going onto to finish ninth, with a last lap pass on Lewis Hamilton to rescue an extra point.
Post-race, Piastri detailed how experience on the former Top Gear and The Grand Tour host’s farm came in handy.
“I was just trying to stay in the race, tried to go forwards and couldn’t,” Piastri told media including RacingNews365.
“A good thing was that I spent some time in the off-season trying to learn how to reverse a tractor on Jeremy Clarkson’s farm.
“It came in handy, and if they could mow the grass a couple of inches shorter, that might help me.
“Obviously it is a shame with how it went, it felt like we deserved, or the crowd deserved a podium, so it hurts, but for myself, there are still a lot of positives to try and take.”
