Just as his Formula 1 title bid seemed to be getting back on course with his improved pace in Brazil, Oscar Piastri cost himself more points by crashing out of the sprint. Here are our thoughts on his mistake and the consequences.

A more complex error than it seemed

Scott Mitchell-Malm

I thought this was just a straightforward, if slightly unfortunate, PIastri error at first - the kind he desperately didn't need.

But two other cars shunting in the same way was immediately eyebrow raising. A closer look at the onboards of several cars on that lap, and earlier in the race, tells a different story. Norris, as the following Kimi Antonelli reported, ran wide over the kerb and kicked up a lot of spray. That totally changed the grip on the exit of the corner.

Piastri shunted there, so did two Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto, but others flirted with disaster too. Verstappen caught a massive slide. Fernando Alonso dropped his left rear all the way over the kerb and kicked up a lot of spray too.

What's hard to discern from the outside is how much each driver was or wasn't mitigating the risk level with throttle inputs and so on in those moments, and whether Piastri created a bigger problem for himself or was just unlucky being the first driver on that kerb after Lando Norris. If he hadn't been, would Max Verstappen have crashed instead? It's impossible to say.

There's a degree of responsibility, but it's more luck than judgement at that point. You could argue that using the kerb at all in the wet is pointlessly risky but the fact is several drivers did, to different degrees, over the first six laps and it was fine.

In that sense it was no different to driving across the parts of the damp track that simply haven't dried yet. The kerb was a perfectly usable extension of the track for the first five laps of the race, but then became suddenly perilous.

Tiny inaccuracy punished

Ben Anderson

He has to try to put it straight out of his mind. It's a nasty blow in the title race, but there's still an awful lot of time and points left before the game is up.

The timing is unfortunate, coming straight after that really difficult run of races in the United States and Mexico, but it's not like Piastri did something horrendously wrong.

Norris climbed over that kerb and got away with it. Verstappen too (just about). For Piastri (and Hulkenberg, and especially Colapinto) the outcome was more disastrous.

But those are the fine lines of racing in the wet. Going offline when water is collecting on kerbs and parts of the track are not yet dry is always fraught with danger.

What works one lap might not work the next, and the smallest inaccuracies in driving line can carry much heavier punishments.

Piastri ended up on the losing side of the gamble on this occasion. The only silver lining is that it was only the sprint, rather than the race that pays out the big points, so it's all still to play for.

A revealing test of his mental strength

Edd Straw

This scenario is a fascinating test of Piastri's resolve and mental strength. Yes, crashing out of the sprint was a blow but it wasn't a disaster given he's still only nine points off Norris.

The trouble is, in the moment it will have felt like a catastrophe and he must now reset and go into qualifying with a clear mind and execute to the best of his ability. After his struggles in the USA and, particularly, Mexico, Piastri would have been desperate for a reset this weekend so this is the last thing he wanted. He mentioned on Thursday that he felt pushing a bit too hard was part of the reason why Baku went so badly for him but here he needs to avoid falling into that trap. That's easy to say, tough to do.

When there's so much at stake, it's all about the driver staying focused on the process, putting one foot in front of another and then, hopefully, the outcome is the result you want. We know he's a cool character and any inner turmoil is undetectable from the outside so it's impossible for us to truly know how it's impacting him.

One thing’s for sure, though. In a 24-event season there will be lows and it's how you rebound from them that counts. Today put a dent in his title hopes but it's essential Piastri, over the next few hours, deals with that, internalises the fact that it's not a disaster and that he can pick himself up and do the job in qualifying proper and the grand prix. After all, that's what champions do.

Momentum is now with Norris

Gary Anderson

For Piastri it was a very small mistake but hugely costly. I'm pretty sure that, as was said in commentary, Norris clipping that kerb brought water out of the kerb onto the top of it and onto that little section of the track so when Piastri arrived he also clipped it but the overall grip wasn’t there in the damp condition.

He is now nine points behind. Yes, the big points at Interlagos are still to come but based on Norris’s performance in Mexico and now here the momentum is definitely in Norris’s favour.

Both Mercedes cars look like they could be in with a shout come qualifying for the grand prix and also the race. Verstappen is not a happy camper but you can never count him out, so that could influence who scores the big points come Sunday.

So far Ferrari is not really at the races here and I doubt if Alonso will repeat his sprint qualifying performance for the big event.

So I think pole and a race win is between the McLarens, Verstappen and Mercedes.

Norris is peaking at the right time

Josh Suttill

You can definitely feel for Piastri but at the end of the day, he was the one who made the error and Norris didn't - and Norris didn't when he had Antonelli right behind him and ready to snatch the win in the closing laps.

It really feels like Norris's season is peaking at exactly the right time. He had arguably his best-ever F1 weekend in Mexico and even when Piastri was looking closer to him on Friday in Brazil, Norris executed things better.

Those early-season errors just aren't present right now and since missing out on capitalising on Piastri's nightmare Baku weekend, he's putting together a really strong run of form.

It's form that is clearly good enough to win a championship if it can be sustained, especially as it's looking like McLaren still has enough of a car advantage over Red Bull.