Australian fast-food chain Grill'd has responded to reports of an Oscar Piastri 'curse' after the brand changed its campaign about the McLaren Formula 1 driver.
The food chain changed its promotion surrounding Piastri after he failed to finish on the podium in any race since a third-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix. The campaign promised a free 'bonus' burger every time the 24-year-old secured a podium finish, but after the dip in performance from Piastri, it was changed to apply when he races.
The change quickly made its way across social media with some jokingly calling the brand out for 'cursing' Piastri's form.
"To everyone who believes in the 'curse'," Grill'd posted. "We'd like to apologise. To you, and to F1 fans everywhere. We never meant to create a burger so delicious it could change the course of F1 history.
"So yes, we're sorry. Sorry our burgers slap that hard. Sure, we can take a joke about a curse - but let's be real, we'd never bet against a guy like Oscar Piastri. He's out homegrown Aussie hero, and we'll always be in his corner.
"Today, tomorrow, and forever, we've got your back, Oscar. Team Grill'd."
Piastri's dip in performance has resulted in him losing the drivers' championship lead to his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris. With three rounds remaining in the season, which include one sprint race, Piastri trails Norris by 24 points in second and leads the charging Max Verstappen in third by 25 points.
"I think the last three weekends in particular are a similar trend. I think Austin had to drive very, very differently. Mexico, the same. And it's kind of one thing adapting to different conditions, but when the way you've driven for the whole season has worked so well, it's kind of difficult to go away from that, I would say," Piastri explained after a fifth-place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
"There's been a lot of learning on that side of things, and trying to adapt to different things. I think this weekend, practice was really, really strong. It felt like I couldn't go slow in practice pretty much. And then through the rest of the weekend, things just went away from us a bit more. The soft tyre was obviously behaving very strangely this weekend. It was hardly better than the medium. The grip conditions yesterday were, again, very bizarre. To not go any quicker from Q1 to Q3 is almost unheard of, especially after so much rain.
"So clearly something has been a bit odd. The cars will be more or less the same. We're trying to put it in the same window, but just other factors have made things difficult. But I'm also trying to work on how I can adapt to that better and kind of add more tools to my arsenal."
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