Oscar Piastri took full responsibility for the accident that took him out of the race on the opening lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, costing him six points in the drivers’ championship against his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris. After an accident in Saturday’s qualifying session, Piastri started the race from ninth on the grid, but dropped to last place on the first corner after his car went into anti-stall mode following a false start. While trying to recover positions on the opening lap, Piastri tried to go around the outside of a group of cars at Turn 5 and crashed into the barriers.
Piastri stated that there was no obvious reason for his two accidents in two days, but he was consoled by his performance during the weekend.I think, ultimately, I miscalculated the grip level. Probably a lot of that is because of the dirty air, but I know more than that, to expect the lack of grip.
Oscar Piastri
The weekend in Azerbaijan was Piastri’s first in 2025 without scoring points, but with Norris only obtaining six points after finishing in seventh place, the Australian still has a 25-point lead at the top of the standings, with seven races remaining. Yes, that’s what it is. I’m not too worried about it. I think for me, I’m focused solely on myself and what I can do to improve. There’s still a long way to go. And whether you have good or bad weekends, the championship is far from over. That’s what I’m focused on.You’ll never feel incredible after a weekend like this, but ultimately, I felt the pace was still good this weekend. I think it’s rare that I have so many execution errors, so I’m very focused on putting that behind me.
Oscar Piastri
