Oscar Piastri accepted sole blame for his crash during qualifying for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, missing a golden opportunity to score pole position.
The Australian crashed in Q3 in a red-flag-laden session, condemning him to a ninth-placed start for Sunday’s race.
Heavy wind across the whole of qualifying, and light rainfall in Q3 caused drivers to get caught out on the Baku City Circuit, already a huge challenge.
Piastri appeared to carry too much speed into Turn 3 immediately after Q3 resumed after a similar crash from Charles Leclerc brought out the fifth red flag of the afternoon.
The title-leader can count himself somewhat lucky that team-mate Lando Norris was also caught out, suffering a brush with the wall that contributed to a meagre seventh place.
After qualifying, Piastri rued his mistake, explaining that he felt much happier with the car after not feeling happy with the MCL39 in free practice on Friday.
“Today, I felt much happier with the car and the job I was doing,” he said.
“It was just a bit difficult to get it all together. That was the biggest thing, but the potential was there.
“Whereas yesterday, it was arguable if it was. I was much happier today – ultimately, I think I tried a bit too hard in Turn 3.”
Piastri was somewhat at a loss for what exactly went wrong, however, but admitted that small margins in Baku can mean the difference between a clean lap and disaster.
“I haven’t actually looked at what I did differently, because I didn’t feel like I did that much differently,” he explained.
“A tiny bit can make a massive difference. Obviously disappointed with how I performed.
“There was a bit of rain around, yes, so I don’t know if that contributed. I don’t know if I got a gust of wind, I don’t know.
“I’ve never been one to blame it on something other than myself.
“That’s what I’m going to stick with until I see something that tells me otherwise.”
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