Jacques Villeneuve calls out Oscar Piastri after costly Azerbaijan GP error: "Rookie mistake"

Motorsport photo

1997 Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve branded Oscar Piastri's Azerbaijan Grand Prix lock-up as a "rookie mistake".

Visit mchezo.life for more information.

The Australian driver suffered a double lock-up during the race at the Baku City Circuit while he was running third. Defending from Red Bull's Isack Hadjar down the main straight, Piastri locked the brakes and went wide into the run-off area. The incident took him out of podium contention and left him fighting in 15th place.

Piastri ultimately finished the race in 14th, and his team-mate Lando Norris crashed out after contact with the Alpine drivers, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly.

"It was a rookie mistake," Villeneuve said while analysing the moment during the Sky Sports F1 broadcast. "He got caught out, looking in his mirrors, and just completely missed.

"It's the truth. Mistakes happen. You push too hard, but then you can see he was looking in his mirrors and just completely missed."

Three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, who joined Villeneuve on the broadcast, shared her view of McLaren's race. "I had his radio on before," Chadwick explained of Piastri. "There was a lot of complaining generally from both McLaren drivers about struggling to get the best out of their car. Lando gets coached quite a lot throughout the lap in terms of where he can improve, where he can find performance."

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

She added: "At the end of the day, you draw a line, and it's a mistake. Even Oscar Piastri needs to look at it, but it's rare that you see a double lock-up like that from a driver like that. It seemed odd to me, though."

Piastri explained that the lock-up took him by surprise. "Yeah, I need to go and look because it certainly took me by surprise. I didn't think I braked super late or super hard. Just instantly locked both fronts, so I need to obviously look at that," the McLaren driver told Sky Sports F1.
 
"Just a disappointing end to the day. I think the first half of the race was very strong, so yeah, a shame to not have anything to show for it."

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

Read full story at source