As the red lights flashed, nineteen F1 cars hurtled towards the first corner of Azerbaijan Grand Prix, except the sport’s championship leader Oscar Piastri was momentarily stationary.
The Australian jumped the start which triggered the anti-stall on his McLaren, dropping the 24 year-old from ninth place to dead last in seconds. Piastri attempted to recover but locked up seconds later and crashed into the barriers near turn five, ending his race on the opening lap.
Oscar Piastri watches the race after crashing in Baku. Credit: Getty Images
The uncharacteristic error from the typically unflappable Australian cements a nightmarish week of unforced errors, including a similar shunt in qualifying.
However, Piastri’s teammate and rival Lando Norris was unable to capitalise on the Australian’s mistake, finishing in seventh place and reducing the championship gap to 25-points. While it’s been a grim day for the Aussie driver, the damage to his lead could have been much worse.
“Certainly, not my finest moment,” Piastri said in a post-race interview.
“Just anticipated the start too much… silly, simple error really with that… the crash, just didn’t anticipate the dirty air in the way I should’ve.”
“I think the grip level was low… but I should know that, so certainly not blaming it on anything other than myself,” he continued. “I didn’t make the judgment calls that I needed to at the right times.”
The Australian conceded it was a “messy weekend” but said he was not worried about the championship gap.
“It is what it is, I’m not too concerned about that, I’m solely focused on myself and what I can do to improve,” he said.
Meanwhile, Red Bull championship Max Verstappen clinically converted pole position to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with George Russell in second and a dream podium for third-placed Carlos Sainz and the underdog Williams team.
Max Verstappen wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.Credit: Getty Images
Baku’s street circuit – characterised by his high-speed corners and 90-degree turns – is incredibly twisty and narrow and therefore the perfect recipe for chaos and calamity. This was evident during Saturday’s rain-soaked qualifying session which was marred by multiple crashes and a record six red flags.
However, Sunday’s race was relatively incident free, excluding a brief collision between Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto. Piastri’s crash briefly triggered a yellow flag, but the reigning four-time world champion was able to maintain a healthy lead, while the middle of grid squabbled for places.
Kiwi Liam Lawson defended third place for the majority of the race but was eventually overtaken by rookie Kimi Antonelli, who drove superbly after a challenging few races.
It was a fairytale finish for Williams who are one of the most decorated teams in F1 history, but have unfortunately found themselves slipping behind over the past two decades. The team’s last podium was in 2021 at the drenched Belgian Grand Prix when Russell finished second.
Now the drought is over with a podium and a Driver of the Day win for Carlos Sainz – his first podium since moving from Ferrerai to Williams. The Spaniard was ecstatic over the radio, declaring that this was “the best podium in my career”.
The next race will be in Singapore on Sunday October 5.