Oscar Piastri won’t carry a grid penalty into Singapore, a small but timely reprieve after the sort of weekend in Baku that makes even the sharpest title bid wobble.
The McLaren driver’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix unraveled in the space of a minute: a jump-start, a stab at the brakes, anti-stall biting, the entire field streaming past, and then, in the rush to recover, a lock-up into the Turn 5 barriers while trying to round Nico Hülkenberg. A DNF, and with it the end of a points streak that had stretched over a season and a half. McLaren’s day didn’t get much better with Lando Norris mired after a slow stop and a qualifying scrape with the wall. For a team that’s spent 2025 making the weather, Baku felt like standing in the rain without an umbrella.
And that’s where the finger-pointing kicked off. Christijan Albers, never shy behind a microphone, called it as he saw it on Viaplay: Piastri “panicked” after the false start, lost the rhythm, and paid for it. He didn’t stop there. In Albers’ view, Andrea Stella’s McLaren looks “hugely dominant,” yet too often trips over its own shoelaces on the pit wall. Put Max Verstappen, George Russell or Charles Leclerc in the MCL39, he argued, and we’d be discussing a very different championship picture.
It’s a harsh read, but Baku handed critics plenty of material. The false start was obvious, the anti-stall equally so, and the Hülkenberg attempt came from the low-grip side of a street track that rarely forgives optimism. Piastri’s been relentlessly tidy this year; this was the opposite. He knows it.
What he won’t have to worry about is a carry-over penalty. Despite the crash damage and the chatter it sparked, McLaren heads to Marina Bay with Piastri’s car managed within the pool, and no additional sanction hanging over the Australian. That matters in Singapore, a circuit that’s less about straight-line shove and more about discipline, rhythm and staying on top of the evolving surface. Track position is king; a grid drop would’ve been a nightmare.
Albers’ wider swing at McLaren will rankle in Woking because, underneath the noise, Stella’s operation has been ruthlessly effective since early 2023. The Italian’s not a salesman; he’s methodical, a details merchant who’s built a highly repeatable car and a calm, no-drama culture. Yes, there are days when that clean-room vibe feels a bit Ron Dennis-era sterile. Yes, strategy hasn’t always matched the car’s pace. And yes, when you’re racking up wins and one-twos, the bar moves: “good” stops being good enough.
But the notion that the car is driving the team rather than the other way around undersells the grind that got McLaren here. Stella and Zak Brown didn’t stumble into a title fight. They engineered their way into it — with a driver pairing that, more weekends than not, maximizes the package.
Which is what makes Singapore fascinating. Piastri doesn’t need heroics; he needs a clean Friday, a no-mistakes Saturday, and the sort of measured Sunday he’s made his calling card. Norris, for his part, has the feel for street circuits and the patience to let a race come to him. And somewhere behind them, Verstappen is doing Verstappen things — chipping away, turning opportunities into points, and refusing to go quietly.
Baku was a bruise, not a break. The calendar gives no one room to sulk, and Marina Bay has a habit of rewarding the teams that reset fastest. McLaren’s car will be quick under the lights. The question is whether the humans around it — on the pit wall and in the cockpit — can be as sharp as the stopwatch says they should be.
No grid penalty for Piastri. No excuses, either.
