Australian restaurant chain Grill’d has apologized for allegedly “cursing” driver Oscar Piastri after launching a promotion that offered a free burger every time the Australian stood on the podium in Formula 1.
Since the relaunch of the campaign, five races ago, the McLaren driver has not finished in the top three. Piastri lost the championship lead to teammate Lando Norris and is 24 points behind.
On social media, fans and internet users suggested that the promotion brought bad luck to the pilot. The “Piastri 81 Burger” was launched before the Australian GP, in March, with support from the driver himself, and relaunched in September after his podium in Italy.
Since then, the 24-year-old Australian has been involved in accidents, collisions and punishments, .
Grill’d even changed the promotion, offering the gift when you completed a race — but he .
“Please stop this promotion and give us hope for the last three races,” wrote one fan on the network’s Facebook page.
The company responded online with an apology to “everyone who believes in the curse”.
“We never wanted to create a burger so tasty that it could change the course of F1 history”, published Grill’d.
The brand added: “We can play with the idea of the curse, but let’s be honest: we would never bet against someone like Oscar Piastri. He is our Australian hero, and we will always stand by him.”
