Bernie Collins saw a telling sign in Oscar Piastri’s ‘data’ after crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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McLaren driver Oscar Piastri produced his worst qualifying result of the 2025 season so far at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as a crash during Q3 left the Australian in just P9.

Baku could see McLaren win the 2025 F1 constructors’ title in the Azerbaijan GP this Sunday, should they outscore Ferrari by nine points and avoid being outscored by Mercedes and Red Bull by 12 and 34 points. But Lando Norris and Piastri will now have to rise through the field.

Piastri buried the nose of his MCL39 in the TecPro barrier at Turn 3 to trigger the second red flag interruption of Q3 on Saturday. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari had already brought qualifying to a brief stop when he hit the barrier at T15. But Piastri ensured the session stopped again.

Norris could not capitalise on his F1 drivers’ championship rival’s session ending in the wall, though. The Briton brushed the Turn 15 barrier on his final Q3 lap and lost almost a second, which left the door open as Red Bull ace Max Verstappen scored pole for the Azerbaijan GP.

Oscar Piastri’s data showed he crashed in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after braking too late

McLaren drivers Norris and Piastri will now start Sunday’s Azerbaijan GP from only seventh and ninth place on Baku’s grid. And Bernie Collins quickly noticed after looking into Piastri’s data that he crashed at Turn 3 after trying to carry more speed than he managed during Q2.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the 2025 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku

Despite spots of rain starting to fall around Baku, Piastri pushed on through Turns 1 and 2 in the 24-year-old’s bid to get his sixth pole position of the 2025 F1 season so far in Azerbaijan. But while Collins thinks Piastri “got away” with it in T1 and T2, he paid a big price in Turn 3.

Collins said on Sky Sports F1 (20/09, 14:44): “When I look at Piastri’s lap, Piastri was actually a little bit quicker into Turn 3. [He] braked a little bit later than he had in Q2, but maybe that was just too much for the conditions that we’re seeing now.

“It looks like Piastri may have thought the grip was a little bit higher, and he had got away with braking later in Turn 1 and Turn 2. It just was too much to push that little bit more into that Turn 3 section, just from looking at the numbers on the data.”

Lando Norris let Oscar Piastri off the hook after his crash during qualifying in Baku

Piastri had not qualified lower than P4 across the first 16 rounds of the 2025 F1 season, but he will start Sunday’s Azerbaijan GP from P9. The Melbourne native had even only qualified outside of the top three once this year, when he only managed P4 for the Miami Grand Prix.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

But one small mistake by pushing too much in the increasingly damp conditions during Q3 in Baku had big consequences for Piastri. But Norris’ mistake at Turn 15 could mitigate what pain Piastri felt, with the Briton unable to capitalise amid the internal title fight at McLaren.

Norris needs big results if he is to eat away at his 31-point deficit to Piastri atop the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship. So, seeing Piastri crash out of qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP gifted the Bristol-born star a big chance that he could not convert with the second-slowest Q3 lap.

Only Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar with a 1:43.372 set a slower time than Norris amongst the drivers who posted lap times during Q3 at the Azerbaijan GP. Red Bull driver Verstappen took pole in Baku with a 1:41.117, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz qualified P2 with a 1:41.595.