Oscar Piastri has revealed how a poorly-fitting seat was the cause of him competing with a broken rib for at least three races before Formula 1’s summer break.
The McLaren driver went public after the Belgian Grand Prix that he had broken a rib recently – and had even raced with it as he took his maiden victory in Hungary.
Speaking for the first time about what had caused the problem, Piastri said he suspected that his made-to-fit seat had created a pinch point.
“You make the seat, obviously, at the start of the year and sometimes you get it a little bit wrong,” he said. “Some tracks don’t expose it, but I think going from Barcelona, Austria, Silverstone, three pretty hardcore tracks [did expose it].
“So it was just a bit of a pressure point which eventually gave up. But it’s all good again now and we’ve changed a seat and fixed it immediately pretty much. So yeah, all back to normal.”
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Piastri said he only found out about the broken rib after the British Grand Prix, but suspected it had happened a few races before.
“The scan was the day after Silverstone but it was definitely broken before Silverstone,” he said.
Asked how many races he thought he had battled the injury for, Piastri said: “Three, I would say. But yes, definitely it was at some point around Austria.
“I think it was probably a bit disturbed in Barcelona, and then with Austria afterwards it was pretty painful, so it was pretty nasty for a few days. But we made some changes and it was already getting better even with driving, so it’s all good.”
Piastri said that there was nothing he could do physically to stop the problem, but reckoned modifications already made to the seat had calmed the situation.
“I think we identified what we could change on the seat and, even with it being broken, the pain subsided a lot once we changed a few things,” he added.
“Even with driving around Budapest and Spa it was not getting any worse, it was actually getting better.”
Additional reporting by Mark Mann-Bryans