BAKU, Azerbaijan — Championship leader Oscar Piastri expects to have an opportunity to claw back a good result after his dramatic crash that put him out of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Piastri slid off the track and into the wall at Turn 4 in the dramatic Q3 session, a rare mistake from the man who leads teammate Lando Norris by 31 points in the championship.
Despite swirling winds and a shower of rain at the same time he went off, Piastri refused to make excuses.
“I think I was much happier today, just ultimately I think I tried a bit too hard in Turn 3,” he told reporters afterwards. “I haven’t actually looked at what I did differently, because I didn’t feel like I did that much differently, but a tiny bit can make a massive difference. So yeah, obviously disappointed with how I performed.
“There was a bit of rain around, yes, so I don’t know if that contributed, I don’t know if I got a gust of wind, I don’t know, but at the moment I’m never one to blame it on something other than myself and that’s what I’m going to stick with until I see something that tells me otherwise.”
One consolation for Piastri will be that Norris failed to capitalize, running his car along the TecPro barrier at Turn 15 late on and only managing a lap good enough for seventh.
It means the McLaren drivers will have to work their way through the order on Sunday with a quick car at a circuit loaded with jeopardy.
“[There are] potentially [opportunities on Sunday], but I’m more disappointed … you could also argue that it was a good opportunity to make progress, but what’s done is done and try and score some, or claw back some points tomorrow.”
Reflecting on the lack of running in practice sessions this week, he added: “I mean also not many people have done long runs this weekend, so the strategy is kind of up in the air a little bit, that gives us opportunities, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen appears to be comfortable favourite to win, having qualified pole position on a mixed up grid featuring Carlos Sainz‘s Williams in second and Liam Lawson‘s Racing Bulls car in third.
