Inside Oscar Piastri and McLaren's Spanish F1 Grand Prix horror showas Aussie fails to score points

McLaren's downward spiral has continued at the Spanish Grand Prix with a race-ruining early accident for Lando Norris and another afternoon scrabbling in the bottom half of the field for Oscar Piastri.

Australian rookie Piastri called it a 'more difficult afternoon than we thought' as all the encouraging signs from qualifying 24 hours earlier evaporated swiftly for the UK-based team at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday.

Norris had been left stunned by finishing third in qualifying and Piastri felt he would have been higher than 10th but for one mistake on his key Q3 run.

But all the promise of what Norris hailed a 'special' Saturday disappeared as neither driver could find the same race pace and the Englishman's afternoon was quickly ruined by an accidental first-lap clash with Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes.