Oscar Piastri Accepts Full Blame for Baku Crash That Cost Points

• Oscar Piastri admitted fault for his opening-lap crash in Azerbaijan, calling it “two simple errors.”
• The Australian said the pace was strong despite mistakes, stressing the errors can be “very easily rectified.”
• Piastri leads the championship by 25 points with seven races left, insisting “the championship is far from over.”

Oscar Piastri accepted full responsibility for his race-ending crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a mistake that cost him six points in the championship battle with McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

The Australian’s weekend was already compromised after a qualifying crash left him starting from ninth. At the start of Sunday’s race, his car dropped into anti-stall mode following a jump start, leaving him at the back of the pack before the first corner.

As he tried to recover positions on the opening lap, Piastri attempted an outside move at Turn 5 but slid into the barriers, ending his race.

“I think just ultimately I misjudged the grip level,” Piastri said. “Probably a lot of that’s from dirty air, but I know better than that – to expect the lack of grip. I’m certainly not blaming it on anything else. It was two simple errors on my behalf that I caused today.”

It was his second accident in as many days, and Piastri admitted there was no easy explanation, though he felt reassured by his underlying pace.

“You’re never going to feel amazing after a weekend like this, but ultimately I felt like the pace has still been good this weekend,” he said. “I think it’s rare that I have so many executional errors, so very much focused on putting that behind me.

“I would be much more concerned if these errors were because I was trying to make up time or do things like that. I think there should be … obviously they were costly errors, but things that can be very easily rectified.”

Asked if anything felt different compared to other weekends, Piastri added: “There’s not been anything that different [this weekend]. It depends how you want to look at that.

“For me, if I felt like I was in a completely different headspace, then it’s easier to blame it on that – and also a problem to rectify, I guess. But this weekend’s felt like any other weekend, just unfortunately there’s been far too many mistakes from start to finish.”

Despite leaving Baku without points for the first time in 2025, Piastri retains a 25-point lead at the top of the standings, with Norris only scoring six from his seventh-place finish.

“Yeah, that is what it is,” Piastri said. “I’m not too concerned about that. I think for me, I’m solely focused on myself and what I can do to improve.

“There’s still a long way to go. And if you have good or bad weekends, the championship is far from over. That’s what I’m focused on.”