{"id":157483,"date":"2025-09-20T22:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T22:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/157483\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T22:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T22:21:09","slug":"oscar-piastri-crashes-into-the-wall-in-final-session-of-qualifying-that-included-six-red-flags-azerbaijan-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/157483\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri crashes into the wall in final session of qualifying that included six red flags; Azerbaijan Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia’s Oscar Piastri<\/a> crashed out in qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday in a marathon session with constant crashes, rain and a record six red flags.<\/p>\n

Red Bull<\/a>‘s Max Verstappen<\/a> was fastest by 0.478 from Carlos Sainz in the Williams in a session that ran an hour past its scheduled time, longer than most races.<\/p>\n

Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls starts Sunday’s race a career-best third.<\/p>\n

THE MOLE: Raiders star ‘strangely quiet’ in crushing finals defeat<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Incredible finish’ keeps Liverpool’s perfect start intact<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cYou just have to send it,\u201d Verstappen said of his final lap, trying to beat a time Sainz had set in much drier conditions.<\/p>\n

But a drama filled final session saw Piastri hit the wall and Esteban Ocon disqualified after failing a technical “mainplan to defelction test” on his car’s rear wing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri crashes the McLaren into the wall at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. \u00a0FOX Sports<\/p>\n

Piastri slammed into the barrier while chasing pole position on a track left slippery by earlier rainfall.<\/p>\n

“Down at the McLaren<\/a> pit wall, they can barely believe what’s happened. Oscar Piastri does not make mistakes like that,” pit lane commentator Ted Kravitz said.<\/p>\n

“Arguably that’s the first mistake he’s made since he went wide in the rain in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“What an opportunity this hands to Norris.”<\/p>\n

His McLaren teammate Lando Norris was only seventh after clipping the wall on his final lap and couldn’t take full advantage of Piastri’s error.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just braked a little bit late,\u201d Piastri told Sky Sports after the session.<\/p>\n

\"Oscar<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren walks in the pitlane after a crash during qualifying.\u00a0Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“I haven’t seen any data, but that’s usually what happens when you lock up your brakes a bit late.<\/p>\n

“Just disappointing obviously, I felt like the car was in a good place and disappointing way to end.<\/p>\n

“Just a case of trying a little bit too hard.”<\/p>\n

Piastri admitted his cahnce of winning the race from ninth would be “ambitious”.<\/p>\n

The Australian briefly perched on a chair trackside near a drinks fridge as he took in the consequences of a rare mistake in the title race. He leads Norris by 31 points.<\/p>\n

\"Oscar<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren walks in the Pitlane after a crash during qualifying.\u00a0Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also crashed earlier while seeking what would have been a fifth consecutive pole position in Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

The first of the six red flags on Saturday was for Alex Albon stopping his Williams after he clipped the wall, another came when Nico Hulkenberg slid into a barrier and left half of his Sauber\u2019s front wing there, before a third red flag for a bizarre incident involving both Alpines.<\/p>\n

Pierre Gasly missed a turn and stopped in an escape road. Seconds later, his teammate Franco Colapinto hit the wall nearby, seemingly in surprise at seeing Gasly stuck at the side of the track.<\/p>\n

Alpine\u2019s executive advisor – and de facto team head – Flavio Briatore was seen gesturing in disbelief as both of his drivers were eliminated from the session.<\/p>\n

The fourth red flag came when Oli Bearman stopped his damaged Haas on track, before Leclerc and Piastri\u2019s crashes brought stoppages five and six.<\/p>\n

\"Lando<\/p>\n

Lando Norris (R) leads Lewis Hamilton (L) on track.\u00a0Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton showed he had strong pace by going fastest in Friday\u2019s second practice session, but it was yet another disappointing qualifying session for the seven-time champion as he ended up 12th.<\/p>\n

For a few minutes, the Williams team dreamed of a first pole position in 11 years.<\/p>\n

Sainz was fastest of only three drivers who had set valid times when Leclerc crashed as the rain started to fall. If it kept raining during the red-flag stoppage, no one would be able to beat his time.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can start dancing to see if it rains a bit harder, no?\u201d Sainz told Williams over the radio as the session was stopped.<\/p>\n

Sainz\u2019s chances went up when there was a second red flag for Piastri\u2019s crash, just as Verstappen was poised to beat his time, but the Dutch driver – known for his skill in the rain – snatched pole with his final attempt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia’s Oscar Piastri crashed out in qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday in a marathon session…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-157483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}