Piastri: No more mistakes like Baku, crucial in the F1 championship

Piastri Seeks Redemption After Disastrous Weekend in Baku

Pilot Oscar Piastri has expressed his determination to avoid more weekends like the one at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix if he wants to secure this year’s drivers’ championship, competing against Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. Piastri suffered an accident on the first lap of the race in Baku two weeks ago, thus ending his streak of 44 consecutive races scoring points. His McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, finished the race in seventh place, reducing the gap in the standings to 25 points. Meanwhile, Verstappen achieved his second consecutive victory, decreasing his deficit to 69 points, with seven races remaining.

I think, even without considering who won the race, we don’t want to have weekends like Baku and we know we can’t afford to have weekends like Baku.

Oscar Piastri

Piastri acknowledged that the weekend in Baku left him with difficult lessons, but also highlighted the opportunities for improvement that the team identified. He emphasized that the weekend in Baku served as a reminder of how quickly the situation can change in the championship. Piastri’s weekend in Baku began to unravel in qualifying, where he crashed in Q3 and lined up ninth on the grid. Then, a false start relegated him to the back of the pack before his accident, which ended his race, trying to overtake several cars. After reflecting on the weekend, Piastri mentioned that there were clear lessons to be learned.

I think the qualifying, the lesson from that was more about a street circuit is going to be harsh if you push too hard. I think qualifying was as simple as that.

Oscar Piastri

Piastri added that he is focusing on the things that have worked well to stay on course in the championship, considering it a set of mistakes. Piastri stated that he did not dwell on the accidents after the weekend in Baku and that his mind is focused on securing a better result at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.

I think it was relatively easy to move on. In a way, because the mistakes were so obvious, you come out of each weekend trying to find how you can improve. But there are some weekends, usually the ones that go well, where it’s a bit more difficult to find where it’s possible to improve.

Oscar Piastri

Piastri concluded that the lessons learned were clear and that he feels comfortable facing the next race weekend.