Australia’s Oscar Piastri crashed out of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in what could’ve been a major moment in the world title fight.

But his McLaren teammate Lando Norris botched his opportunity to punish the mistake, only qualifying seventh, meaning he’ll start just two spots ahead of Piastri (ninth) on Sunday night.

Piastri caused the sixth of a record-setting six red flags through a marathon session around the tight streets of Baku.

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Leading the title race by 31 points from Norris, and coming off a brilliant race win at this circuit last year, Piastri was one of many drivers to hit the walls and bring his session to an early end.

But in a slippery final set of Q3 laps Norris hit the wall too.

“Just braked a little bit late, I’ve not seen any data or anything,” Piastri said immediately after returning to the paddock.

“That’s normally what happens when you end up locking your brakes. I feel like the car was in a good place – disappointing right now.

“I don’t know if I tried a bit too much, and the rain has been around … I think just a case of trying a little bit too hard.

“I think (recovering for) the win is ambitious (in the race).”

Red flag chaos plagues Baku | 01:03

Max Verstappen took pole with Carlos Sainz’ Williams in an unlikely second, and Liam Lawson putting his Racing Bull in third, ahead of the two Mercedes cars.

“I can’t think of the last time we saw Oscar Piastri make a mistake,” Karun Chandhok said on commentary.

Pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz added: “Arguably that’s the first time he’s made one since going off in the rain in Melbourne.”

Norris was fuming at his inability to capitalise. The decision of he and his crew to lead the field out of the pits when Q3 restarted for the final laps backfired.

“Of course, I’d have liked a better result in this kind of scenario, but we just made the wrong decision, which we’ll punch ourselves about now,” he said.

“But it could easily have gone our way,” he added. “Sometimes, you risk it, sometimes you don’t. It’s also a risk to go out last and hope the track is a bit better, but also risk the yellow and the red flags.

“You win some, you lose some. So, I’m not the happiest about today, but there’s a long race tomorrow to try and get some more points.” Norris had hoped that going early in the wet conditions might give him an advantage, but instead the track dried and conditions improved to give those who followed him later a chance to clock better lap times.

As a result of that, four-time world champion Verstappen claimed pole position for Red Bull in the final seconds.

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The BBC’s Jennie Gow recently shared a prediction from Piastri which showed his confidence heading into 2025.

“He turned to me with a steely gaze and said: ‘That championship will be mine next year’,” Gow recalled on ABC’s Saturday Sledge.

“I didn’t forget it, because of the intensity of his gaze … it haunted me in a way.”

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix will begin at 9pm AEST on Sunday night.

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