Oscar Piastri slams 'terrible' McLaren vehicle as Aussie responds to Red Bull links

Aussie F1 star Oscar Piastri has been left frustrated with his vehicle in the opening practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Piastri has been enjoying a spectacular run of form over the past few months, however, on Monday AEDT lost patience with his vehicle, telling his McLaren team it felt "terrible.

Starting at the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of June, Piastri has finished second, fourth, first, second, fourth, second, first, fourth and fifth. However, in recent weeks the Aussie has been left annoyed with the feel of his F1 vehicle. And after running wide through turn 12 in practice on Saturday morning, a fed-up Piastri complained to his team that his car was feeling "pretty terrible still" When he was asked over the radio if he wanted to do another qualifying simulation or put together a continuous streak of laps, the Aussie instead voiced his anger at the state of his car and came in a short time later.

But Piastri wasn't the only one who left the first two practice sessions unhappy, with championship leader Max Verstappen complaining of major engine issues. Verstappen relayed to his team that his vehicle had an engine problem in the first practice session. But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said after checking it out following the first session that it was a "menial issue".

"This noise is very disturbing. This can’t be normal," Verstappen said over the team radio. He returned to the track but was called straight back in and was unable to get a timed lap on the board.

Meanwhile, George Russell suffered another high-speed crash in the second practice session. Russell, who had earlier topped the standings in first practice, caught the kerb and smashed into the barriers at turn nine 12 just minutes into the second session. It comes a week after the Mercedes driver crashed during qualifying in Austin.

He was taken to the medical centre and the 90-minute session – an hour of which was devoted to Pirelli tyre testing for 2025 – was red-flagged for 24 minutes. Mercedes later confirmed Russell had been released from the medical centre and was doing okay.

Oscar Piastri shuts down talk of a move to Red Bull

Meanwhile, Piastri was quick to shut down growing suggestions that he is eyeing up a move from McLaren to Red Bull. The rumours were sparked when Red Bull's senior advisor Helmut Marko told the F1 Insider website that Mark Webber - the former Australian F1 star who's now Piastri's manager - was "intensively" pushing for negotiations with the Austrian world champions.

But Piastri wasted no time in dismissing the speculation. "It wouldn't be a week in F1 without some comments from Helmut," Piastri told reporters ahead of the opening practice session. "It's a nice compliment, I would say. But again, I'm very happy with where I am. They (Red Bull) have quite a big pool of drivers that they can choose from if they want."

with AAP