Oscar Piastri took full responsibility for his crash during the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race, which continued his capitulation in the 2025 Formula 1 world title fight.
The McLaren driver was running third just moments before he spun out on lap six after he took too much kerb at Turn 3 in damp conditions at Interlagos.
It means he is now nine points behind team-mate and title rival Lando Norris, who won from pole ahead of Mercedes pair Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in second and third respectively.
“Just dipped a wheel on the white line of the kerb and around I went,” said Piastri. “Silly mistake, or unfortunate mistake, so that’s it.”
The Australian was understandably in no mood to talk, as he continues to fall away in the title fight having not won since September’s Dutch Grand Prix. That victory gave him a 34-point lead over Norris, who retired through a mechanical fault, but a poor run of form that includes just one podium in five for Piastri has completely changed the situation.
The overnight showers at Interlagos made conditions tricky and drivers were less aggressive in the sprint race than they usually are. That included staying away from the kerbs, but lap six proved to be an anomaly in that, starting with Norris taking more inside kerb at Turn 3.
It caused water to be sprayed behind, which Antonelli was fully alert to as the 19-year-old rookie kept it on track: “I saw Lando going wide and water came up and actually had a lot of water going into my visor. But I was just trying to stay away [from the] kerbs during the whole race because it was very, very tricky.
“When I saw him lifting water, I tried to take a bit more care just to avoid any spin or moments because, end of last sector [and] sector one was the wettest. It was really crucial to make it tidy in order to make it through.”
But seconds later Piastri spun after being caught out by the same wet kerb - something Russell jokingly suggested Norris did on purpose to prompt the mistake by his team-mate. “A little bit like Mario Kart where you throw the banana out behind. Smartest guy on the grid, this guy,” smiled Russell.
Norris is certainly looking good for his maiden world title as he kicked on from his Mexico Grand Prix domination with Saturday’s win in Brazil. But he didn’t have it quite as easy, as he finished less than a second ahead of Antonelli, who applied late pressure thanks to a slight mistake from Norris in the closing laps.
“A lot trickier than I would have liked,” said Norris. “One, because the conditions were tough.
“But at the second point, just not being quite quick enough in the second part of the race on the softs. Kimi was quick, it was always like 1.2s down to one, I made a bit of a mistake in [corner] four on one of the laps. So yeah, just didn't plan for it being quite as difficult as it was today - but we held on.”
It means Norris is strengthening his grip on the championship, but as Piastri pointed out, there is still a grand prix to come this weekend where 25 points are on offer to the winner, meaning the situation could quickly change again.
“Just trying to put this behind,” said Piastri. “We'll see what weather we have for this afternoon. Obviously there's a lot more points on offer tomorrow. So the better job I can do this afternoon of trying to give myself a good starting spot, the better we'll be.”
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