Recharged Piastri looks to bounce back in Singapore

Redemption is the word on Oscar Piastri’s mind this weekend as he puts the “relatively easy to move on” embarrassment of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix behind him and turns his focus back to extending his championship lead in Singapore.

It was an out-of-character showing from the usually calm and composed Aussie, however, last round’s incident-riddled weekend claimed the championship leader not once, but twice across both competitive sessions. 

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A crash during the closing minutes of Qualifying left Piastri out of position when it came time to launch for Sunday’s main event, however, a significant jumpstart left him in last place as he rounded the first turn.

Just five corners later, and Piastri’s entire Azerbaijan Grand Prix campaign came to a crashing halt at Turn 6, with the Australian locking up and charging straight for the barriers on the opening lap. 

Even though McLaren missed out on confirming the constructors’ championship in Baku, the individual loss wasn’t too harsh for the #81, with Piastri’s teammate also having an unfavourable outing, which earned Lando Norris just six points in his drivers’ championship chase. 

Coming into the Singapore Grand Prix, the McLaren rivals are only separated by 25 points — just one race win.

Piastri remains in the lead on 324 points, with Norris just one point away from breaching the 300-point mark, while the teammates’ missteps have allowed the always-threatening Max Verstappen to claw his way back into championship contention after a dominant display two weeks ago.

“I think even without disregarding who won the race, we don’t want to have weekends like Baku, and we know we can’t afford to have weekends like Baku,” the championship leader said.

“Certainly from my side of things, there were some tough lessons to take, but I think as a team we recognised a few opportunities from the weekend to try and improve. 

“That’s always an important thing. 

“I’m not that fussed with what the championship picture looks like. 

“I think Baku was quite a good reminder of, firstly, how quickly everything can change, but also on some of the things that have made the season so successful for myself and the team.

“I think just trying to stay focused on that will naturally take care of the championship picture.”

Coming away from Baku — a race he stood on the top step at in 2024 — empty-handed, left the Australian with some reflecting to do during the two weeks absent from the race track.

The task wasn’t too great for Piastri, however, with the Australian admitting that the double-accident event was a simple one to come to grips with ahead of his flight to Singapore.

“It was relatively easy to move on from actually,” Piastri stated.

“I think in some ways, because the mistakes were so obvious, you leave every weekend trying to find how you can improve. 

“But there’s some weekends, normally the ones that go well, where it’s a bit more difficult to find where it’s possible to improve.

“But also, if you don’t have a clear idea of where things went wrong, then often the hardest part is finding where to start. 

“I think when the mistakes and the consequences are so obvious, it’s quite easy to find where to look. 

“I think the reflection on that has been pretty straightforward and I feel comfortable coming back in now.

“I certainly haven’t had to dwell on it too much, the lessons are there but I’ve been able to move on from it quickly and just approach this weekend like any other weekend.”

Delving into his very brief processing methods in the days that followed the forgettable weekend, the Australian added: “I think making sure that I spent the time going over and analysing what went wrong on the weekend is obviously important, but once I’d done that, nothing special.

“Monday morning, I was walking to the supermarket and getting my groceries, which I do after every race, so there’s nothing special. 

“I didn’t go and book myself a trip to somewhere exotic or anything like that. 

“I just had a very normal week, went to the sim like normal.

“I guess that’s kind of the gist of what I’m trying to say is I’ve approached everything like normal. 

“Yes, the consequences were bigger and more dramatic, but the process of looking through things has been exactly the same as every weekend.”

The Singapore Grand Prix is one weekend that cannot be approached “like normal”, with the hot conditions pushing the drivers to their physical limits, and even prompting FIA Race Director Rui Marques to declare a Heat Hazard for the event.

As a result of outside temperatures reaching over 31.0°C, drivers will be allowed to wear a cooling vest — which circulates cool liquid through tubes to maintain body temperature — to help combat the excessive cockpit temperatures of up to 50.0°C during the race, or add extra ballast to their cars.

Jumping ship from street circuit to street circuit, the Baku City Circuit and the Marina Bay Street Circuit not only differ in external conditions, but in downforce as well, with the data from McLaren’s simulator tests Piastri’s only saving grace as the competition draws closer to the papaya duo.

“It’s a very different, in some ways very similar to Baku, but in other ways very different in terms of downforce level and conditions,” the Australian noted.

“The sim told us the normal things it does, tried some setup things and whatever. 

“I think the main competition, based on the last couple of races, I think Red Bull and Max will be strong again.

“We’ve seen Ferrari be quick here in the past, Mercedes as well, so it’s hard to pinpoint who’s going to be the main competition. 

“But I think given the last few races, and also just generally who’s been the closest to us whenever there’s been really close competition, it’s more often than not been Max.”

The 2026 Sprint Weekend calendar revealed the Singapore Grand Prix as the last of six Sprint events to take place next season, however, it remains in the conventional format this weekend with three practice sessions, one hour of Qualifying, and a 62-lap race set to take place under the floodlights.

“I think we’re going to have tight competition, but I expect us to be competitive here and hopefully more competitive, but we’ll find out tomorrow,” the Australian said. 

Under the thundering Singapore skies, the first hour of practice around the Marina Bay Street Circuit will kick off at 19:30 AEST tonight, followed by FP2 at 23:00 AEST.

Image: OscarPiastri/X

2025 Singapore Grand Prix Schedule (AEST):

Friday, October 3rd:

FP1: 19:30 – 20:30

FP2: 23:00 – 00:00

Saturday, October 4th:

FP3: 19:30 – 20:30

Qualifying: 23:00 – 00:00

Sunday, October 5th:

Race: 23:00

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