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McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri described his late-race error at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as "a bit strange" after missing out on a podium finish in Baku.
Piastri was running in third position after the second safety car restart, under pressure from Red Bull's Isaak Hadjar, having been overtaken by Max Verstappen on the first restart. In an attempt to defend the inside line into Turn 1, the Australian locked up heavily and went straight on, plummeting from third to 15th place – second to last in the condensed field.
"I need to check what happened because it was a bit strange to lock both front tires so suddenly," Piastri commented. "I don't think I did anything unusual. Obviously, I was on a different line than usual because I was defending. I don't know if I hit some kind of bump, but it was definitely a surprise for me."
"After Max passed me, there was no way to get the position back, but it would have been interesting to see if I could hold Hadjar behind me. Honestly, it probably would have been tough. It's hard to say because of the medium tires; they were quite severely damaged, and I didn't feel as good on them as I did on the softs."
"I think we potentially could have been fourth. It's one thing to say 'we could have been,' and quite another where you actually finish," he added.
Piastri has reportedly struggled throughout the season with the 2026-spec cars, but in Baku, he outperformed his teammate Lando Norris. The 25-year-old matched his best qualifying result of the season with a third-place start and was poised to secure his first podium since Miami.
"Overall, I wouldn't say I feel more comfortable, but I managed to extract more lap time from the car," he explained. "I was able to understand which direction I needed to take, especially with my driving. Apart from one moment in the race, I feel like this was a weekend much closer to the level I expect from myself. From that perspective, it was much more encouraging. It's just, of course, quite painful that I still don't have anything to show for it."
So, what exactly was the direction Piastri needed to take with his driving?
"With previous cars, especially in a race, you drove at 99%," he explained. "You had to manage the tires a bit, and driving at 99% was the fastest way. With these cars, it feels like you have to be at 101% all the time, and as soon as you can't do that, you just lose a lot of lap time. That's why I say this weekend I wasn't necessarily more comfortable, but I was able to reach that 101% or 100% a bit more easily."
"I feel like I definitely learned some interesting things this weekend to use going forward, but it's still a learning process," the Australian concluded.
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