Pressure at the Top: Piastri’s Costly First Lap Exit
The 2025 Formula One season has been dominated by McLaren. Nearly every race was won by either Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris, and often secured positions one and two. That is until the last few races. The championship battle is a high-stakes fight between Piastri and Norris, but they have recently fallen short. In the most recent races, both drivers have DNF’d, and Max Verstappen has won the last two races. The pressure of being at the top can help magnify every mistake the drivers and team make.
At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this morning, Norris and Piastri both started at some of their worst grid positions this season, at P7 and P10. Chaos began almost immediately for Piastri as he jumped the start before the lights went out. He then had to fight anti-stall, a system in place to prevent the engine from stalling when a car stops, which caused him to lose his advantage and fall to P20. He found himself at the back of the pack, fighting to remain in the race.
The Australian driver had an error in qualifying on Saturday, where he collided with a barrier wall. Sunday wasn’t much better for Piastri, when at turn five his race came to an end after running into a wall on the opening lap. He was forced to retire just seconds into the race, making his lead in the championship smaller. Piastri is a calm and composed driver under pressure, but Baku seemed to get the best of him this weekend.
Luckily for Piastri, his championship rival and teammate, Norris, only finished in P7. The 31-point lead Piastri had over Norris only closed to 25 after this race. The four-time championship winner, Verstappen, claimed the victory in Baku as he has just won back-to-back races. With only a handful of races, both McLaren drivers are so close in points, and Verstappen is only 69 points behind, so this shows that anything is possible for the outcome of the 2025 season. The retirement today may shift momentum, but McLaren remains a competitive and dominant force that is destined to win the Constructor’s championship.
Piastri’s first-lap mistake shows how thin the margin is at the top and how unforgiving every mistake is. Due to McLaren’s weak performance at Baku today, other drivers got the chance to earn podium positions and much-needed points. Carlos Sainz, a strong force with Ferrari in 2024, earned his first podium of the 2025 season with Williams. Moments like these show how quickly the stakes can change in Formula One, and the fight for points is not just between championship leaders.
