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.<\/p>\n
But in a slippery final set of Q3 laps Norris hit the wall too.<\/p>\n
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\u201cJust braked a little bit late, I\u2019ve not seen any data or anything,\u201d Piastri said immediately after returning to the paddock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s normally what happens when you end up locking your brakes. I feel like the car was in a good place – disappointing right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think (recovering for) the win is ambitious (in the race).\u201d<\/p>\n
Red flag chaos plagues Baku | 01:03<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen took pole with Carlos Sainz\u2019 Williams in an unlikely second, and Liam Lawson putting his Racing Bull in third, ahead of the two Mercedes cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t think of the last time we saw Oscar Piastri make a mistake,\u201d Karun Chandhok said on commentary.<\/p>\n
Pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz added: \u201cArguably that\u2019s the first time he\u2019s made one since going off in the rain in Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, I\u2019d have liked a better result in this kind of scenario, but we just made the wrong decision, which we\u2019ll punch ourselves about now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it could easily have gone our way,\u201d he added. \u201cSometimes, you risk it, sometimes you don\u2019t. It\u2019s also a risk to go out last and hope the track is a bit better, but also risk the yellow and the red flags.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou win some, you lose some. So, I\u2019m not the happiest about today, but there\u2019s a long race tomorrow to try and get some more points.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
As a result of that, four-time world champion Verstappen claimed pole position for Red Bull in the final seconds.<\/p>\n
MORE F1 NEWS<\/p>\n
Practice Talking Pts: What was behind McLaren\u2019s struggles; Hamilton\u2019s big break<\/a><\/p>\n Practice Wrap: Lando Norris suffers \u2018costly\u2019 blow as Oscar Piastri investigated<\/a><\/p>\n