Oscar Piastri has disclosed that he raced for several weeks without noticing he had a cracked rib, which was caused by his McLaren MCL38 seat being fitted incorrectly. The Australian driver didn’t become aware of the injury until after Silverstone’s British Grand Prix.
Piastri has had a great season in spite of this setback; he won in Hungary for the first time and routinely placed on the podium. Resilient to the last, he nearly passed seven-time winner Lewis Hamilton at Spa-Francorchamps, ultimately coming in second. With its MCL38 car, McLaren has advanced significantly, enabling Piastri and teammate Lando Norris to challenge Red Bull for the top spots. Compared to previous year, when the team found it difficult to keep up with Max Verstappen, this progress is striking.
Despite this setback, Piastri has had a fantastic season; he won in Hungary for the first time and consistently finished in the top three. Despite finishing in second place, he was resilient enough to challenge seven-time winner Lewis Hamilton at Spa-Francorchamps. McLaren has made tremendous progress with the MCL38 car, allowing Piastri and teammate Lando Norris to challenge Red Bull for the top ranks. This is a significant improvement over the previous year, when the team struggled to stay up with Max Verstappen.
“Going from Barcelona, Austria, Silverstone, they’re three pretty hardcore tracks.”My rib finally went out from a slight pressure point. Everything is well once more. We instantly corrected it and changed the seat.” Piastri was not aware that during pre-season testing he was enduring the agony of a damaged rib brought on by the seat fitting in order to achieve these results.
Later in the season, Piastri started to experience discomfort, especially on high-G-force tracks. He was in a lot of agony, so much so that a scan revealed the fracture had probably happened before Silverstone. Since then, the pain has subsided thanks to the modifications made to his seat, enabling him to fully recover. Although Piastri had to adjust his setup a little, his physical training was essentially unaffected.
