MELBOURNE: Oscar Piastri described his Australian Grand Prix drive as faultless, except for one corner.
With 13 laps remaining, Piastri and teammate Lando Norris both slid off the track on the exit of turn 12 as rain began falling on the Albert Park circuit.
While Norris was able to wrestle his McLaren back onto the track and keep the car from spinning, Piastri wasn't so lucky and spun into the grass run-off.
AS IT HAPPENED: 2025 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri ended his chances of a home podium with a mistake late in the Australian Grand Prix. Fox Sports
To make matters worse, the 23-year-old home hero lost more than a lap as his slick tyres battled to find any purchase on the rain-soaked outfield.
Norris would go on to win the first race of the season. Piastri finished ninth.
"I tried to push a bit too much, I guess," he told media including Wide World of Sports.
"In those conditions, it's very difficult to judge just how slippery it's going to be.
"I think from one lap to the next it had really changed a lot. I could see Lando going off in front of me, but I was already in the corner basically, so there wasn't much I could do to slow myself down at that point.
A dejected Piastri speaking to media. Getty
"To get stuck in the grass like that was pretty unbelievable … but I've only got myself to blame for being there, so it's a shame.
"It's a good thing I spent some time in the off-season trying to learn how to reverse a tractor on Jeremy Clarkson's farm, because I think it came in handy today."
To that point, McLaren had survived incredibly difficult wet-dry-wet-again conditions and was on for a one-two in the F1 season-opener.
The start of the race was delayed 15 minutes after debutant Isack Hadjar crashed at turn two on the formation lap.
After the field made it around a second formation lap without issue, Norris beat Piastri on the drag to turn one, but had to defend from a fast-starting Max Verstappen. The Dutchman managed to get past Piastri on the corner exit.
The safety car was immediately called though after Australia's Jack Doohan crashed heavily on the run between turns five and six.
Moments later, Carlos Sainz experienced a "torque surge" and had his own crash at the final corner.
Piastri got back past Verstappen after the Dutchman locked up and ran wide at turn 11 on lap 17 and immediately set about chasing down his teammate.
The moment the two McLarens ran off the track. FOX Sports
As the McLarens came up on lapped traffic, Piastri was ordered not to attack his teammate.
The safety car made another appearance on lap 34 when Fernando Alonso crashed at turn nine.
It triggered a flurry of pitstops as teams made the switch from intermediate tyres onto the dry-weather slick tyres.
When racing resumed on lap 42, focus quickly turned to the sky as another heavy shower closed in on the circuit.
It arrived at the eastern end of the circuit first, and first on the scene were the two McLarens. Norris managed to keep the car out of the gravel trap as he ran off first, but Piastri sailed significantly wider. His tyres became wet and lost temperature as he drove through the grass, leaving him powerless to regain control once back on the track.
He lost a lap recovering, but got an almighty cheer from the Melbourne crowd once he got it back on the black stuff.
Norris immediately pitted for inters after his off, as did Piastri once he recovered, but Verstappen did another lap as the heavy rain spread across the entire circuit.
The safety car was called again moments later after Gabriele Bortoleto and Liam Lawson had separate crashes within seconds of each other at opposite ends of the track.
The safety car was fortuitous for Piastri, as it allowed him to get back on the lead lap and catch the tail of the field.
He restarted 13th and managed to climb to ninth by the chequered flag, including a bold move around the outside of Lewis Hamilton at turn nine on the final lap.
Norris hugs his parents Cisca and Adam in parc ferme after taking the win. Getty
"Clearly this will hurt for a period of time, but I'm still happy with the job I did, apart from that one lap," Piastri said.
"Yep, those are incredibly tough conditions. We saw a lot of people struggling today, not that that means I should struggle, but I think there's still plenty of positives to take."
Piastri and the rest of the F1 circus have little time to dwell. The second race of the season is in a week's time in Shanghai, China.