Oscar Piastri delivers guilty admission after brush with FIA penalty

Oscar Piastri has discussed a mistake he made after the race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix which landed him in hot water with race stewards.

Championship leader Piastri accidentally stalled on lap one of the race at the Baku City Circuit, which allowed a number of cars to pass him on the line as he dropped all the way to the back of the pack.

Then, as he attempted to keep up with the pack from last position, Piastri locked up his tyres into turn five on lap one and crashed out of the race, gifting his championship rivals an opportunity to close the gap in the standings.

Luckily for Piastri, his team-mate Lando Norris was not able to take advantage, finishing down in seventh, but Max Verstappen's victory has taken him to within 69 points of the Australian.

Piastri was also handed a five-second time penalty for his stall at the start, with it being adjudged that he had jumped the start, but he was not able to serve that penalty as he crashed out on lap one.

Then, an official FIA statement on the matter made no reference to him needing to carry the penalty over to the Singapore GP, meaning the McLaren driver's dismal weekend showing will not hamper future race weekends.

After the race, the 24-year-old admitted his guilt at jumping the lights slightly, suggesting that was what caused his car to enter anti-stall.

"I misjudged the lights going out," he said in his post-race interview. "Then the car went into anti-stall and from there it went further downhill.

"After a weekend like that, I don't feel great, of course, but the positive thing is that the speed was still good.

"It's quite unusual for me to make so many mistakes. I made two mistakes, it's as simple as that. Every session has been messy. But it's not that I suddenly felt different this weekend, or anything like that. Then it would be easy to blame it on that."

Piastri error lands Alonso in hot water

Piastri's shocker of a start to the grand prix also impacted Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.

The Spaniard was starting 11th, directly behind Piastri's MCL39, and he admitted to being put off by Piastri's jump.

It caused Alonso to not only have to take avoiding action as Piastri failed to get off the line, but also to jump the lights ever so slightly too, giving the 44-year-old a five-second time penalty.

Alonso - unlike Piastri - was able to serve that penalty, taking it at his pit stop before going on to finish the race down in 15th position.

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