Piastri admits mistakes after Baku crash cutting F1 title lead

Oscar Piastri, the 2025 Formula One championship leader, experienced a difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend marked by errors that significantly impacted his title challenge. After crashing in Saturday's qualifying session and starting ninth, Piastri jumped the start in the race, which caused his car to go into anti-stall mode and drop to the back of the field. On the opening lap, he locked up at Turn 5 and crashed into the barriers, ending his race and breaking a 34-race points-scoring streak. Piastri took full responsibility for the incidents, describing them as "silly mistakes" and "lapses in judgement," emphasizing that the errors were not due to a lack of pace but rather executional faults. The race stewards handed Piastri a five-second penalty for the false start but decided not to impose a grid penalty for the next race, Singapore GP. Despite the setbacks, Piastri maintained a championship lead of 25 points over teammate Lando Norris, with Max Verstappen trailing by 69 points, and expressed determination to move past the weekend's mistakes.