OMM Redaksiyası
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri made a serious mistake late in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix while battling for points.
The Australian locked both front wheels simultaneously on lap 40 as he approached Turn 1. The incident occurred while he was trying to defend his position from Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar. Piastri had been running second until that point and had managed to keep Max Verstappen behind him through lap 30.
The safety car was deployed after Alex Albon’s crash. Piastri failed to maintain his position after the restart and dropped back following the incident one lap after the second restart, eventually finishing the race in 13th place.
Piastri explained his mistake as follows: “It was a bit strange. Both front wheels locked up at once. While defending, I was on a different line from the one I usually use. I don’t know whether I went over a bump, but it came as a surprise to me.”
He said the weekend as a whole had been more encouraging than the previous races. Piastri added that he had been able to extract more lap-time performance from the car and had gained a better understanding of the areas in which he needed to improve his driving style.
“Apart from one episode in the race, I was closer to the level I expected of myself this weekend. That is more encouraging in this regard. But not getting anything in return for it yet hurts a lot,” he added.
Piastri’s 13th-place finish and Lando Norris’ early retirement meant McLaren left Baku without points. The team also suffered an additional setback in its battle with Ferrari for second place in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is held on Baku’s street circuit, where narrow sections and heavy braking zones can make defending positions particularly demanding. In Formula One, a double front-wheel lock-up can cause a driver to miss the corner entry and lose significant time or positions.
