Oscar Piastri says his championship campaign can’t afford another messy weekend like Baku as he attempts to move on from his first failure to finish a race in two years.

Piastri crashed out of the first laps of Azerbaijan Grand Prix to conclude an unusually error-prone 24 hours that also saw him bin his car in qualifying and jump the start of the race.

It was his first scoreless round since 2023, costing him six points to Lando Norris and 25 points to winner Max Verstappen.

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The result has enlivened Verstappen’s longshot title hopes, with McLaren team boss Andrea Stella identifying the Dutchman as a championship threat.

Speaking to reporters at the Singapore Grand Prix, Piastri said the result was a reminder of the fragility of his championship lead but believe the lessons from the weekend would stand him in good stead to consolidate his title lead.

“I think even disregarding 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,” he said.

“Certainly from my side of things there were some tough lessons to take.

“But I think as a team we recognised a few opportunities from the weekend to try and improve. That’s always an important thing.

“Baku was quite a good reminder of, firstly, how quickly everything can change but also of some of the things that have made the season so successful for me and the team.

“I think just trying to stay focused on that will naturally take care of the championship picture.”

Those “tough lessons” are clear to Piastri, with obvious mistakes leading to the three big-consequence moments that ended with him in the barriers.

“The lesson from [qualifying] was more just around a street circuit is going to bite hard if you try a bit too hard — I think qualifying was as simple as that,” he said.

“The jump start — a combination of factors, I would say, led to that. Then the crash — I think it’s difficult to remove immediately what went on at the start.

“There are some lessons about how I can deal with that better and just lessons on risk.

“I’m just putting it down to some mistakes. Obviously it looks quite dramatic because they’re all on the same weekend, but it’s nothing more than that really.

“There’s nothing revolutionary that I think needs to change or that I am going to change — for 16 of the 17 weekends what I’ve been doing has worked very well.

“I think if I make sure I stay focused on the things that have gone well, then it will continue to go that way.”

PIT TALK PODCAST: After his disaster in Azerbaijan, can Oscar Piastri bounce back in Singapore to reassert himself as the championship leader?

The famously ice-cold Australian said he had no trouble putting the disappointment of the weekend behind him given the cause of the errors were so clear.

“It was relatively easy to move on from, actually,” he said. “I think in some ways because the mistakes were so obvious.

“You leave every weekend trying to find how you can improve, but there are some weekends — normally the ones that go well — when it’s a bit more difficult to find where it’s possible to improve.

“Often the hardest part is finding where to start.

“I think when the mistakes and the consequences are so obvious, it’s quite easy to find where to look.

“Yes, the consequences were bigger and more dramatic, but the process of looking through things has been exactly the same as every weekend.

“I think the reflection on that has been pretty straightforward, and I feel comfortable coming back in now.

“I certainly haven’t had to dwell on it too much, the lessons are there, but I’ve been able to move on from it quickly and just approach this weekend like any other weekend.”