FIA statement confirms Oscar Piastri car too damaged at Azerbaijan Grand Prix as demotion verdict revealed

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

FIA statement confirms Oscar Piastri car too damaged at Azerbaijan Grand Prix as demotion verdict revealed

Oscar Piastri crashed out during qualifying in Baku

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 21 September 2025 11:42

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The FIA have released a statement that confirms a demotion verdict after F1 star Oscar Piastri crashed at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Piastri crashed during qualifying in Baku, forcing him into a component change ahead of race day.

In a chaotic session that saw six red flags deployed, Piastri made a mistake and crashed into the barriers at Turn 3 during the fight for pole position in Q3.

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More concerningly however, the collision ripped off the front right corner of his McLaren, giving the team a huge task on Saturday evening.

The McLaren team confirmed over night that his car was too damaged to race, and have switched to another survival cell (the monocoque designed to protect the driver) for Sunday's grand prix.

By making these changes McLaren risked breaking parc ferme rules, and thus a pit lane start for the championship leader. However, Piastri will carry no penalty going into the Azerbaijan GP as the team were able to make the changes within the sporting regulations.

Why has Piastri escaped a penalty at the Azerbaijan GP?

According to the regulations, a spare car can be used if a driver has "suffered genuine accident damage or has suffered a significant failure or fault."

Furthermore, McLaren also had to comply with other demands, such as: "All components of the replacement car must be the same in design and similar in mass, inertia, and function to the original car. The set-up of the suspension must be the same."

Piastri's chassis change is his first this season, with teams only allowed to make two changes per year before they earn a penalty, thus the Aussie has escaped demotion on this occasion.

Alpine star Franco Colapinto will also switch to a spare car and use a replacement gearbox after his Q1 crash, but will also not serve a penalty and instead starts the grand prix in P16.

Piastri will start the Azerbaijan GP in P9, while his team-mate Lando Norris will start just ahead in seventh.

Max Verstappen secured pole position, and is followed by the Williams of Carlos Sainz on the front row of the grid with Liam Lawson in third, in what promises to be an exciting spectacle at lights out.

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Quali Results: SIX red flags cause chaos as Oscar Piastri crashes out in Baku