Oscar Piastri\u2019s championship hopes may have taken a big hit, as the Australian has crashed out of Q3 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
The championship leader ended his qualifying session in Baku in the barriers, bringing out a record-breaking sixth red flag during what was supposed to be an hour-long shoot-out.<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri brings out the red flags in Azerbaijan<\/p>\n
There were multiple red flags during the qualifying session in Baku, with Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Ollie Bearman, and Charles Leclerc crashing their cars in separate incidents across Q1, Q2, and the early stages of Q3.<\/p>\n
Heading into the final critical minutes of Q3, Piastri made his first significant error of his championship tilt since sliding off in the rain in Melbourne, as he binned his McLaren MCL39.<\/p>\n
Negotiating Turn 3, Piastri didn\u2019t make the apex and slid straight on into the barriers to knock the right-front corners off his car.<\/p>\n
Thumping the steering wheel in frustration, Piastri was placed sixth in the qualifying order but, with over three minutes left in the session, is likely to fall further back in the top 10 \u2013 assuming his car is repairable without breaking parc ferme conditions.<\/p>\n
Returning to the pits, Piastri\u2019s initial explanation, without reviewing the data, was that he simply braked too late for the corner, holding his hands up for what looks like a simple driver error.<\/p>\n
Should McLaren<\/a> need to make any changes during repairs, he could yet end up starting from the pitlane, which could prove impactful to his championship hopes as the Australian is 27 points clear of McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the Drivers\u2019 Championship.<\/p>\n \u201cJust ultimately, I think I tried a bit too hard,\u201d Piastri said after the session.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t actually looked at what I did differently, because I didn\u2019t feel like I did that much differently. But a tiny bit can make a massive difference.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, yeah, I\u2019m obviously disappointed with how I performed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a bit of rain around, yes, so I don\u2019t know if that contributed. I don\u2019t know if I got a gust of wind, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, at the moment, I\u2019ve never been one to blame it on something other than myself, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to stick with until I see something that tells me otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n More from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0\u00a0Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen on pole as Baku sets red flag record in disaster for Piastri, Ferrari<\/a><\/p>\n