Photos: Oscar Piastri clicked walking through the streets of Baku after crashing his McLaren in the F1 Azerbaijan GP

Oscar Piastri suffered a torrid Azerbaijan GP weekend, as his race ended on lap one after a myriad of struggles since the start of the weekend. The Aussie then stayed by the trackside before moving onto the McLaren garage later in the day, as he was spotted walking down the streets of Baku and photographed in an unorthodox place, while the race was still going on.

Piastri arrived at the Azerbaijan GP weekend with the hopes of extending his advantage at the top of the championship table. However, the 24-year-old was not easily adapting to the circuit's characteristics this year around as he kissed the crash barrier earlier in the weekend, before crashing into one during qualifying.

Despite this, Piastri was slated to start inside the top-10, but this also proved to be of no benefit, as he jumped the race start and then locked his brakes heading into turn four, crashing into the barriers once again. This brought a premature end to the championship leader's race, who then stayed by the trackside in a marshal's post to view the race.

However, he ultimately had to make his way back to the paddock, and in doing so, he went through the streets in Baku, leading him to be photographed along the way:

The Azerbaijan GP marked Oscar Piastri's first retirement of the 2025 season.

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An "uncharacteristic" race weekend for Oscar Piastri in Azerbaijan

McLaren's Oscar Piastri in the media pen after the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Source: Getty

Oscar Piastri had emerged victorious in Baku last year. Moreover, having won seven races so far, he was regarded as one of the favorites to take the gold medal home this year, too.

But this hope remained a hope only, as a dismal weekend played out for him. Reflecting on his race weekend, he said (via McLaren):

"Obviously not the weekend we were looking for in Baku. I made a mistake at the start and then locked up. I want to apologise to the team, especially the mechanics after they did such a great job to get my car back together after Qualifying. We just need to keep our heads down, review, and put this one behind us before coming back stronger next race weekend."

Meanwhile, McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, even admitted that Baku brought up some uncharacteristic mistakes from Piastri, a driver who is known for his cool and calm demeanour within the paddock:

"A difficult weekend at a circuit we knew would be tricky for us. It was confirmation once again that our competitors are not far from us and at some circuits, faster... For Oscar, it was a rare weekend with a few uncharacteristic mistakes, but he is already processing the weekend and taking all the learnings ahead of the next round."

Piastri now has a 25-point lead over Lando Norris in the championship standings, all while a threat from Max Verstappen for the drivers' crown is looming in the background.