Lando Norris was gifted an opportunity to take a huge chunk out of Oscar Piastri’s championship lead after the F1 title favourite crashed out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri dramatically crashed out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to blow the Formula 1 title race wide open. The Aussie capped a nightmare weekend in Baku after a horrible qualifying crash by burying his rebuilt McLaren into a barrier on the first lap of Sunday’s race.
Piastri started ninth and appeared to jump the start and almost stalled his car. By the time he got the throttle down again, he had dropped to last place. But then the really costly mistake came at just the fifth corner of the circuit when he lost control and buried the front of his car in the wall.
The crash could have huge ramifications in the title race. Piastri headed into the Azerbaijan race with a 31-point lead over British team-mate Norris who now has a golden opportunity to take a significant chunk out of that gap.
The maximum number of points available is 25 for winning a Grand Prix, so there is no chance Piastri will lose his place at the top of the standings this weekend. But a strong points haul for his team-mate could ignite an already tight title fight between the two McLaren drivers.
It was an uncharacteristic mistake from Piastri, who has previously shown a high standard of unflappability. His crash brought to an end his remarkable run of 44 consecutive Grand Prix finishes and a 34-race points scoring streak.
To make matters worse for the Australian, he was later given a five-second time penalty for having jumped the start before his crash. And, because he was unable to serve that punishment, Piastri will likely have to carry it over to the next race, the Singapore Grand Prix, in the form of a grid drop.
Piastri’s DNF also served as a blow to McLaren’s chances of securing the constructors’ championship in Baku. They needed to collectively out-score Ferrari by nine points or more, but Norris found himself stuck in eighth place in the early stages of the race, sandwiched between the two Scuderia cars with Charles Leclerc ahead and Lewis Hamilton behind.
Max Verstappen started the race on pole and quickly stamped his authority on the race. After the safety car period sparked by Piastri’s crash, the Dutchman wasted little time before putting a gap between himself and Carlos Sainz in second place to take full control of the Grand Prix.
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Victory would see the Red Bull racer also take 25 points out of the gap of 94 between himself and Piastri in the championship. That would lend more weight to the pre-race claim of McLaren team principal Andrea Stella that Verstappen is still very much a contender for the drivers’ title.
The Italian said: “Red Bull are a very serious contender to win races and a very serious contender for the drivers’ championship. He is Max Verstappen – world champion for the last four years – in a fast car… [they are] in contention for the drivers’ championship.”