1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Oscar Piastri is “feeling the strain” after a uncommon mistake in qualifying on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Piastri crashed out in Q3, locking up closely into Flip 3.
This accident triggered the sixth – and ultimate – pink flag of a chaotic F1 qualifying session on the Baku Metropolis Circuit.
Happily for Piastri, F1 title rival Lando Norris will begin the race from seventh, after a poor ultimate effort in Q3.
It’s been a weekend plagued by errors from quite a lot of drivers, together with the 2 McLarens.
Piastri and Norris had brushes with the partitions in second observe, costing each of them essential observe time.
Reviewing qualifying on his Instagram account, Villeneuve identified Piastri has been “driving erratically” all weekend.
“The opposite drivers… not improbable laps,” Villeneuve mentioned. “Piastri put it within the wall, the championship chief. He’s been driving erratically this weekend, so it appears to be like slightly bit robust. He’s feeling the strain, [but] saved by the truth that Norris tousled his laps as effectively, so they may each begin within the midfield.”
The excellent news for Piastri is that he has a 31-point lead over Norris within the drivers’ championship.
Max Verstappen begins the race from pole place after an error-free session.
The Dutchman isn’t in title rivalry, sitting 94 factors behind the lead McLaren.
Piastri will get new chassis for Azerbaijan GP
McLaren have given Piastri a brand new chassis for Sunday’s race in Azerbaijan.
Piastri will nonetheless begin the race from ninth, quite than the pit lane.
Oscar Piastri
It’s because his unique chassis was broken, and it has been changed by an an identical specification.
In response to the sporting laws, drivers are allowed to vary chassis and not using a penalty if they’ve “suffered real accident harm or a big failure or fault”.
Piastri gained the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, pulling off a daring overtake on Charles Leclerc for the win.
