Oscar Piastri will be desperate to move on quickly from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a nightmare race weekend for the Championship leader.<\/p>\n
After crashing out in qualifying, Piastri<\/a> suffered a false start which saw him drop all the way to the back of the pack. His recovery mission swiftly ended in the wall with\u00a0analysis from Sky F1\u2019s Anthony Davidson suggesting a wide Nico Hulkenberg may have played a part in Piastri\u2019s race-ending crash.<\/p>\n Did Nico Hulkenberg \u2018goad\u2019 Oscar Piastri into crash?<\/p>\n McLaren went into the Azerbaijan GP looking to secure the Constructors\u2019 Championship. When both Piastri and Norris hit the wall in qualifying, that task became a lot harder.<\/p>\n And the achievement was officially put on hold on Lap 1. Piastri jumped the start, went into anti-stall, and saw the pack charge past him as he got up to speed.<\/p>\n Piastri had already clawed back a few positions by the time he reached Turn 5, but locked-up and steamed into the Tecpro barrier, ending his race.<\/p>\n Analysing the championship\u2019s leader\u2019s crash on Sky F1, Davidson pointed out that Hulkenberg in the Sauber ahead may have indirectly influenced Piastri\u2019s crash, by goading him into a braking point which was too late.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t put him off initially,\u201d said Davidson of Piastri\u2019s false start. \u201cHe was quick to start making positions again.<\/p>\n \u201cHe took it easy through Turn 2. Like Max [Verstappen] was saying in the driver cooldown room, everyone was just sort of taking it pretty easy on these cold tyres at the start of the race.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he was up to speed by the time you get to Turn 3, and getting past [Alex] Albon in the Williams straight away into that corner. And then he\u2019s on the attack with [Pierre] Gasly on the right hand side as well. Picks up another position there, around the outside of Turn 4 he goes.<\/p>\n \u201cNow he\u2019s got the Hass there of [Esteban] Ocon and slots in behind him. This is where it all goes wrong, in Turn 5.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what I believe happens here is that he\u2019s got Hulkenberg in front of him, trying to make a move around the outside of one of the Hass drivers, and I think, in a way, goads Piastri into thinking, \u2018That\u2019s where I brake.\u2019 But Hulkenberg runs wide himself, very wide, actually.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s that moment, to give Oscar some credit here, or some let off, is that I think he\u2019s just following in another driver that is also going quite deep, and you sort of judge the gap between yourself and the other car, and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s caught him out here, and that\u2019s what\u2019s ultimately ended up in the barrier.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think if the car in front of him, Hulkenberg, had been a bit easier on the brakes, naturally, that would have made Oscar brake a bit earlier as well.\u201d<\/p>\n However, despite that nod towards Hulkenberg influence, Davidson conceded: \u201cBut, giving him excuses there, the calibre that he is as a driver leading the World Championship, you shouldn\u2019t, as difficult as this day is, you shouldn\u2019t really be expecting mistakes like that when you\u2019re at his level.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, really disappointing weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n More key talking points from the 2025 Azerbaijan GP<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Lewis Hamilton at centre of Ferrari team orders in untelevised Baku GP radio call<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Explained: Why Oscar Piastri will escape a Singapore GP grid penalty<\/a><\/p>\n When Piastri debriefed his false start and crash with Sky F1, there was no mention of Hulkenberg, only the full acceptance of blame for his own mistakes.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly not my finest moment,\u201d he said. \u201cJust anticipated the start too much. Silly, simple error, really, with that.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then the crash, just didn\u2019t anticipate the dirty air in the way I should have, and clearly went into the corner way too hot and that was that.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if this simply came down to trying to make up places after a bad start, Piastri replied: \u201cPotentially. The grip level was low, but I should know that.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, certainly not blaming it on anything other than myself, just, yeah, didn\u2019t make the judgment calls that I needed to at the right time. And that\u2019s obviously disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n Piastri was somewhat let off the hook by the fact teammate, and title rival, Lando Norris, managed P7 only on a difficult weekend for McLaren.<\/p>\n The Australian\u2019s lead over Norris has nonetheless shrunk to 25 points<\/a> with seven rounds to go.<\/p>\n