Oscar Piastri slammed for “rookie error” in “weird” Azerbaijan GP moment
Oscar Piastri has been criticised for making a “rookie error” in Baku
One-time Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve slammed Oscar Piastri’s Turn 1 lock-up at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as a “rookie error”.
The McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both struggled for pace during last weekend’s race in Baku, despite running an updated car.
Early in the race, Norris suffered a big lock-up on the way into Turn 1, which forced him to take the escape road and lose several positions.
Later on, Piastri - who was running second until the first safety car restart - did the exact same thing.
Sky F1 pundit and 1997 world champion Villeneuve offered a harsh assessment of Piastri’s error, after it dropped him out of the points to 13th.
“It was a rookie mistake,” the Canadian said.
“He got caught out, looking in his mirrors, and just completely missed.
“It’s the truth. Mistakes happen. You push too hard, but then you can see he was looking in his mirrors and just completely missed.”
“It was a bit weird”
Piastri, when he spoke to reporters after the race, was perplexed by the lock-up as he “didn’t think I did anything spectacular”.
“I need to look, because it was a bit weird just locking up both fronts instantly like that,” he said.
“I didn't think I did anything spectacular.
“Obviously I was on a different line to what I normally would be, defending.
“So I don't know if I was on a crown in the road or something, but it certainly was a surprise to me.
“Once Max [Verstappen] got ahead, I was never going to get back past, but it would have been interesting to see if I could keep [Isack] Hadjar behind.
“To be honest, it probably would have been tough. It's hard to tell on the medium because they were pretty heavily flat-spotted, but I didn't feel anywhere near as good on the medium as I did on the soft.
“I think potentially we could have been P4.
“One thing is saying ‘we could have been’, and one thing is where you actually finish.”
Piastri’s mistake and non-points finish came as team-mate Norris got taken out of the race by Franco Colapinto.
The Briton apologised publicly on Monday for stating that Colapinto deserved a race ban for his actions.
