Oscar Piastri has fumed after ‘silly mistakes’ saw him drop valuable points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in his charge to win this year’s Formula One World Championship.
Max Verstappen would go on to claim victory in Baku, with George Russell and Carlos Sainz placing second and third in the standings.
There was some solace for Piastri as his team-mate, and main challenger, Lando Norris finished seventh, meaning that the 24-year-old Victoria-born racing driver retains a 25-point lead at the top of the standings.
Piastri, though, would fail to add to that tally on Sunday afternoon, with the Australian driver braking late into turn.
His front wheels would lock up and Piastri slid into a padded wall on the side of the track.
‘[It] certainly was not my finest moment,’ he told Sky Sports F1. ‘I just anticipated the start too much, and it was a silly, simple error with that.
Oscar Piastri has claimed that ‘silly mistakes’ caused him to crash out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Piastri (pictured) crashed out on the fifth corner of the first lap, gifting Lando Norris a chance to gain some serious ground on the F1 Drivers Championship leader
Piastri (pictured) locked up wheels through turn five, before slaming his McLaren into the cushioned wall
‘Then, the crash – I just didn’t anticipate the dirty air in the way I should have.
‘I clearly went into the corner way too hot and that was that.’
Piastri didn’t mince his words either when it came to his assessment of his performance over the course of the weekend.
‘Just more silly mistakes,’ he added.
‘It was certainly a messy weekend for sure, but I would be more concerned if I was slow and trying to make up for it that way and having these errors because of that.
‘But the fact that they’re just simple lapses in judgement… It’s not a position I want to be in or to put the mechanics in, because it has been a rough weekend for them. If I’m trying to find a silver lining, at least I have that.’
Piastri had also been subject to the scrutiny of the stewards after both he and Fernando Alonso were handed five-second penalties after taking off too early on the start line.
The Australian’s sanction will not carry over to next week’s Singapore Grand Prix, according to FIA officials due to his premature exit from the race.
Piastri labelleed his weekend a ‘messy one’ claiming he made several ‘simple lapses in judgement’ that had cost him over the course of the past few days
His team-mate Lando Norris finished seventh on the grid but a 25-point gap at the top of the Driver’s Standings
It also brought an end to his streak of finishing each of the past 34 Grand Prix to an end.
But with his first world title looming on the horizon, Piastri wasn’t too worried about the gap between himself and Norris reducing to just 25 points.
‘I’m not too concerned about that,’ he said. ‘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.’
Norris, meanwhile, plans to keep chipping away at the gap between him and his team-mate with seven races left to go this season.
‘We weren’t too optimistic about our pace today,’ Norris told Sky Sports F1.
‘Clearly, we struggled a little bit. I don’t think the pace is bad, it’s just too difficult to overtake.
‘I’m doing the best I can. I know I’ve still got a lot of points to make up against a pretty good driver, an incredible driver. I just need to keep my head down.’
