Oscar Piastri crashes out of Azerbaijan Grand Prix in huge setback for championship leader

Championship leader Oscar Piastri jumped the start, bogged down, and crashed at Turn 5 on lap one in Baku

Championship leader Oscar Piastri has crashed out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the first lap after a poor start for the Australian. This ends his 34-race point-scoring streak.

Starting ninth on the grid, he had a horrific start to the race as he jumped the lights before bogging the car down as he fought against the anti-stall. This dropped him to the back of the pack. But at Turn 5, his race came to an end as he locked his brakes, hitting the barriers on the outside of the corner. The yellow flags were released, prompting Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon to change their tyres with quick pitstops.

"He has just locked up. He's just locked up and gone straight!" Sky Sports' Karun Chandhok said. "He just sailed into the barrier.

"He just snatched the brake. I can't recall anyone hitting that barrier all weekend."

Bernie Collins added: "It looks to me like he actually jumped the start a little bit, then tried to recover a bit and lost all those positions."

The driver has been noted for a jump start, something that would usually result in a drive-through penalty of five to 10 seconds. This will not be carried over to the Singapore Grand Prix.

Piastri entered the weekend with a 31-point lead over his team-mate Lando Norris, so a first-place finish from the Briton would see him only six points behind the championship leader. This is a big opportunity for Norris, who hasn't given up on his championship aspirations.

This has been a difficult weekend for both McLaren drivers, with Piastri struggling with power unit issues on the Friday and crashing in qualifying.

"I think, yeah, yesterday was a bit of a struggle, definitely," Piastri said after qualifying. "I think today I felt much happier with the car and the job I was doing, you know, it was just a bit difficult to get it all together – that was the biggest thing, but the potential was there.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Images

"Whereas yesterday, it was arguable if it was.

"So, I think I was much happier today, just, ultimately, I think tried a bit too hard in Turn 3.

"I haven't actually looked at what I did differently, because I didn't feel like I did that much differently. But, you know, a tiny bit can make a massive difference. So, yeah, obviously disappointed with how I performed."