Oscar Piastri: McLaren “pace is there” despite PU scare and barrier brush

Oscar Piastri is adamant McLaren still have the pace to fight at the front despite an incident-filled Friday at the 2025 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

It was a tough day for Piastri and McLaren in Friday practice at the Baku City Circuit.

Piastri suffered a major setback in FP1 after a power unit-related issue in the opening minutes of the session.

The Australian was instructed by his engineer to “avoid full load” as he recovered back to the pit lane.

He was told: “Recharge on, back off, recharge on, back off. Avoid full load, keep low revs, avoid full load, keep full revs.”

Piastri didn’t lose too much time, as the session was halted due to debris on the track.

The session was then further delayed because of an issue with one of the kerbs.

In FP2, both McLaren drivers had brushes with the walls.

It meant neither Piastri nor Lando Norris completed a representative lap on the softs in the qualifying simulations.

Similarly, Norris missed out on heavy-fuel running at the end of the session.

Piastri managed to get a few laps on the board, but ended the session 12th overall.

Piastri was under investigation for a yellow flag infringement but escaped with just a reprimand, the stewards confirmed. 

Piastri: “The pace is there”

With eight rounds to go, 31 points separate Piastri and Norris in the drivers’ championship.

Piastri’s lead was 34 points following the Dutch Grand Prix.

Norris retired from the race while running in second place because of a chassis problem.

Norris beat his teammate at Monza after a team orders saga engulfed the team.

A mix-up at the pit stops meant Norris rejoined behind his teammate, and to make things fair, McLaren intervened.

While both drivers made mistakes in practice in Baku, so far, Norris has enjoyed an edge in terms of pace.

Reflecting on his Friday, Piastri said: “Tricky, yeah. A bit up and down. The pace is there. It’s just not the easiest to get the most out of it at the moment. That’s the main thing from today.

“We tried a few things in FP2. We will look back and see what we can change for tomorrow. It’s going to be a bit different with tyre choices and stuff like that. I think it’s still a lot of positives from today but a few tricky moments.”

Piastri won the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix after pulling off a stunning move on Charles Leclerc for the victory.