Burger Chain Apologizes For Jinxing F1 Driver Oscar Piastri

We've seen plenty of sports curses over the years, whether it was the Curse of the Billy Goat, the Curse of the Bambino, or the Drake Curse, but we've never seen any team or athlete get cursed by burgers.

Until now.

According to The Guardian, Australian fast food chain Grill'd started a promotion offering free burgers every time McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri finishes on the podium.

But here's the problem: after a blistering first two-thirds of the season, Piastri hasn't been on the podium since Italy. Even worse, he has had some nightmares this weekend with crashes, poor qualifying, and some uncharacteristically poor form.

But is it the burgers' fault?

When would burgers ever do us wrong (aside from cholesterol)?

"To everyone who believes in the ‘Curse,’ we'd like to apologize," Grill'd wrote on social media to you, and to F1 fans everywhere.  We never meant to create a burger so delicious it could change the course of Fl 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 our homegrown Aussie hero, and we'll always be in his corner."

So is it the burgers or is the season-long intensity of an F1 title chase getting to Piastri?

I'd guess the latter, but he's far from out of it yet.

With just three Grand Prix and a Sprint Race left on the calendar, Piastri is 24 points behind his McLaren teammate Lando Norris for the championship.

That's a lot, but it's close enough that DNF for Norris in a Grand Prix (like when his engine blew up at Zandvoort) could completely flip the situation in a single race.

The next opportunity for Piastri to make up some ground on Norris (and break the Burger Curse) is next weekend in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.