Oscar Piastri Reveals How He Broke His Rib Ahead Of Maiden Victory

Saajan Jogia | Aug 23, 2024

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia arrives at the Formula 1 Lenovo United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday October 22, 2023. / Jay Janner/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri revealed that he was racing in the premier class of motorsport, unaware of a broken rib in his body caused by the seat in his MCL38. It wasn't until the British Grand Prix at Silverstone that he discovered he was racing all these weeks with a broken rib.

The 23-year-old driver has been in exceptional form, clinching his maiden win in Hungary and achieving multiple podium finishes throughout the season. Piastri has remained undaunted by the challenges he's faced, coming close to overtaking Lewis Hamilton at Spa-Francorchamps and ultimately finishing a strong second behind the seven-time world champion.

McLaren has successfully developed its MCL38 F1 car to a level where its drivers can now challenge Red Bull's dominance for the top spot. This marks a significant improvement from last year when its promising pace was only sufficient to secure positions behind Max Verstappen.

Consequently, Piastri and Lando Norris, who took his first victory in Miami, have managed to level up the team's position in the Constructors' Championship to second place, trailing Red Bull by just 42 points. Little did Piastri know that he was reaching the podium mid-season with a broken rib caused by an incorrect seat fitting during pre-season testing.

It wasn't until later in the season, toward the summer break, that he experienced pain, but he continued to endure high G-forces in his car. Speaking to the media at Zandvoort, ahead of the Dutch GP, he said:

“You make the seat at the start of the year and sometimes you get it a little bit wrong and some tracks don’t expose it.

“Going from Barcelona, Austria, Silverstone, they’re three pretty hardcore tracks.

“Just a bit of a pressure point, which eventually my rib gave up. It’s all good again now. We’ve changed the seat and fixed it immediately.”

Regarding the broken rib's diagnosis, he added:

“The scan was the day after Silverstone, but it was definitely broken before Silverstone.

“I think I was probably a bit disturbed in Barcelona and then Austria. Afterwards, it was pretty painful, and Silverstone was a pretty nasty few days."

Piastri said the changes made to the seat allowed him to heal. As for the impact of the injury on his physical training, he was asked whether he needed to make any changes to his workout regime. He said:

“Not massively.

“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 so it was getting better.

“Even with driving around for Budapest and Spa, it was not getting any worse. It was actually getting better, so I think we already changed what went wrong. But I’m fully back to normal.”