"Not the weekend we were looking for": Oscar Piastri reflects  on McLaren's struggles in Baku 

Oscar Piastri’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix ended in frustration after a messy weekend for McLaren that saw the Australian crash out on the opening lap. The championship leader, who came into Baku on a 34-race points streak, suffered his first DNF of the year after a false start and a lock-up at Turn 5. With McLaren also missing a chance to seal the constructors’ title, the street race turned into one of the team’s toughest outings of the season.

McLaren’s troubles began on Friday at the Baku City Circuit. What should have been a routine day turned chaotic. Piastri was sidelined early in FP1 with a PU issue, while Norris clouted a wall in FP2 and broke his suspension. Piastri then brushed the barriers himself, leaving both cars outside the top three for the first time this year. To make matters worse, the Australian was handed a reprimand for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags.

Oscar Piastri drove into the Turn 3 wall in qualifying, forcing a chassis change overnight. On Sunday, the problems compounded. He was blunt about what went wrong in the McLaren debrief:

"Obviously not the weekend we were looking for in Baku. I made a mistake at the start and then locked up. I want to apologize to the team, especially the mechanics after they did such a great job to get my car back together after Qualifying. We just need to keep our heads down, review, and put this one behind us before coming back stronger next race weekend."

Lando Norris (4) passes Oscar Piastri's car during the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan. Source: Getty

Oscar Piastri made a jump start at the start, and then anti-stall dropped him to the back of the pack. He then braked late into Turn 5, which locked the front-left tire in the dirty air, and slid him into the barrier, ending his race on the opening lap.

McLaren did find a small silver lining. Teammate Lando Norris could only manage seventh, so Piastri leaves Baku still leading the F1 drivers’ standings. But the weekend belonged to Max Verstappen, who won from pole for the second straight week - a reminder that errors can swing a championship fight.

---

'A tricky race and a tricky weekend' - Lando Norris reflects on Azerbaijan GP

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris of McLaren at Baku. Source: Getty

Lando Norris' own Sunday reflected a weekend that never clicked for the McLaren pair. Starting P7, he battled Yuki Tsunoda and Charles Leclerc to secure a P7 finish. He made his one scheduled stop on Lap 37 to change to Hards, which delayed him further.

But after the race, he said there were no strategic options left for a better result (via McLaren debrief):

"A tricky race and a tricky weekend overall. Today the pace was okay, but not enough to overtake. After not doing a good enough job yesterday, and a lack of real strategy options today, there wasn’t much more we could have done. Frustrating and not how I wanted the weekend to go, but we’ll get our heads down now and look ahead to Singapore."

Oscar Piastri still leads Norris by 25 points with seven grand prix weekends remaining. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, meanwhile, narrowed the gap with consecutive wins and sits 69 points adrift after Baku.

McLaren will regroup quickly with the next stop being the Singapore Grand Prix (October 3 to 5), where clean weekends and fewer small errors will be vital if Piastri and Norris are to keep the title fight tightly contested.

Edited by Rupesh