Oscar Piastri Reacts To Disastrous Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Formula 1 championship leader Oscar Piastri has conceded his disastrous first lap at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a string of "silly mistakes".

The McLaren driver was on the back foot for the race at the Baku City Circuit after a crash during qualifying that left him ninth on the grid, but things went from bad to worse on race day.

Teammate and main title rival Lando Norris was unable to properly capitalize on Piastri's downfall, finishing only seventh having struggled to pass Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda in a race-long battle.

"Silly mistakes"

Piastri's race began in the worst possible way as he jumped the start. As he stopped instantly realising his mistake, the lights went out and his car kicked into anti-stall, dropping him right to the back of the field.

The Australian had made up some ground through the opening corners as the field somehow kept it clean through the tight 90-degree turns that mark the first sector of the lap but arriving at Turn 5, he locked up off line and pitched his car into the barriers.

It was a similar mistake to the one that left Piastri in the Turn 3 wall on Saturday and meant his championship lead would be cut, albeit only to 25 points.

Glad to see you're okay, Oscar 🧡#McLaren | #AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/6ZIfhFVOfR
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 21, 2025

Addressing his first lap when speaking to Sky Sports UK, Piastri explained: "Certainly not my finest moment. I anticipated the start to much. A silly, simple error with that. And then the crash, I didn't anticipate the dirty air in the way I should have. Clearly went into the corner way too hot and that was that. The grip level was low but I should know that.

"So I am certainly not blaming it on anything other than myself. I didn't make the judgement calls that I needed to at the right time and that is obviously disappointing."

Piastri's silver lining

Piastri had been struggling for pace compared to Norris across the weekend, though was second in FP1 and third in FP3.

Asked whether it was a case of the entire event being a challenge for him, Piastri replied: "More or less. Friday was a tough day, Saturday - the potential was very good. I had a lot of sequences or sectors that were incredibly strong and I just never got it all together.

"Qualifying was what it was and today, just more silly mistakes. We certainly had a messy weekend, for sure, but I would be more concerned if I was slow and trying to make up for it that way and having these errors because of that.

"So the fact that they are just simple lapses in judgement. It is not a position I want to be or put the mechanics in, it has been a rough weekend for them but if I am trying to find a silver lining then I suppose I have that."

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