Oscar Piastri rages at Esteban Ocon during the F1 Azerbaijan GP FP3

Oscar Piastri was left agitated during the FP3 session at the Azerbaijan GP weekend after being held in constant turbulent air by Esteban Ocon. Subsequently, the championship leader shared a frustrated message over his radio for the Frenchman.

The 6.003-km circuit usually has enough space for drivers to give way to their mates, but a peculiar incident took place during the final free practice session of the race weekend. Piastri was on a fast lap when he caught up to slow strolling Ocon on his own run plan.

Infuriated by the 29-year-old not giving way, Piastri said over the radio:

"Man, what is this wanker doing."

However, his race engineer, Tom Stallard, revealed to the 24-year-old that Ocon could be on a continuous run plan. But the latter was told to do a single cooldown lap after crossing the finish line, meaning that he was on a usual single run plan, and the Aussie just caught him up in his attempt around the Baku City Circuit.

---

Oscar Piastri details the complex nature of the Baku City Circuit

McLaren's Oscar Piastri during the Friday free practice running at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan race weekend - Source: Getty

Oscar Piastri has raced twice at the Azerbaijan GP in the F1 paddock. While his first attempt came in the initial phase of the 2023 season, when McLaren used to fight for scraps, his subsequent try at the race resulted in him earning the gold medal after the end of the 51 laps.

So, heading into the race weekend with the championship fight raging on, he was asked about the characteristics of the revered street track, to which he replied in the press conference:

"It’s a very unique track. Very slow corners, long straights, little runoff — well, there’s runoff, but you’ve got to do a U-turn to come back on. The normal street circuit things, but with much heavier braking zones than normal."

"The grip level increases a lot through the weekend. It’s a street circuit, but unlike others, you’ve really got to focus a lot on braking because you can win or lose a lot of time there, or break — or not break — a lot of parts on your car. The straight out of Turn 15 is a long time on full throttle with those two high-speed kinks; it takes quite a while, feels like maybe the longest straight of the season."

Oscar Piastri leads Lando Norris by 31 points in the drivers' championship table. Last time around, he lost three points to the Briton after the Italian GP.

Though such a point dent was dealt easily by his lead in the standings, he would be hoping to increase this tally at the Azerbaijan GP to not have any stroke of misfortune take the chance of winning his maiden title away from him.

Edited by Geetansh Pasricha