Karun Chandhok just produced a ‘Murray Walker commentator curse’ after Oscar Piastri’s crash in Monaco

Oscar Piastri suffered a minor setback at the Monaco Grand Prix as he had his first crash of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The Aussie comes into the Monaco Grand Prix 13 points ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris at the top of the drivers’ championship. Piastri finished behind the Brit for the third time this season at Imola as they came home second and third behind Max Verstappen.

The 24-year-old has found another level in 2025, winning four from the opening seven races, including three consecutive victories in Bahrain, Jeddah and Miami. Piastri is the fourth McLaren driver in history and the first since 1998 to achieve this feat.

Piastri is making life difficult for Norris in 2025, particularly in qualifying, as he is extracting the most out of the MC;39 on Saturdays, while mistakes from Norris hinder his performance. Lewis Hamilton says Piastri is delivering in qualifying compared to Norris, lauding the ‘great job’ he is doing.

The Aussie will want to carry the momentum on in Monaco, but it was a smooth Friday practice for the McLaren driver. He finished almost four tenths off pacesetter Charles Leclerc in FP1 in fifth.

The McLaren driver looked to set some encouraging times in FP2. However, he would not have foreseen that he would put his MCL39 into the wall.

Karun Chandhok produced a ‘Murray Walker commentator curse’ after Oscar Piastri’s FP2 crash in Monaco

In the early stages of FP2, Piastri locked up heading into turn one and went straight on into the barriers. The impact tore the front wing off the car and flat-spotted both front tyres.

Luckily, Piastri managed to reverse his car out of the wall and got going again. He nursed the MC;39 back to the pits for repairs, before going back on track and finishing second behind Leclerc at the end of the session.

Speaking on Sky Sports F1 during the incident, Karun Chandhok had some comments about the Aussie that aged terribly with his accident. During FP1, he had stated that he could not remember the McLaren driver causing damage to his car.

After seeing his crash in FP2, Chandhok noted he produced a commentator’s curse reminiscent of legendary F1 broadcaster Murray Walker: “You know when I was saying in FP1, where I don’t remember Piastri ever crashing the car or damaging it? Classic Murray Walker commentator curse this!” he said.

Fellow commentator David Croft poked fun at Chandhok as he said: “I remember. It was Monaco, FP2, 2025, right Karun?” To which he replied: “Yeah, 19 minutes into the session Crofty.”

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Imola proved Oscar Piastri still has work to do to beat Max Verstappen in 2025

While Piastri may have a 22-point lead over Verstappen going into the 2025 season, the Dutchman is not out of the picture, despite McLaren’s pace advantage over Red Bull.

Piastri says Verstappen ‘knows’ he’ll stand his ground during battles in 2025. It is a bold statement, but Imola proved he still has work to do as the McLaren star lost the lead at the first turn to the Dutchman with a stunning move around the outside.

Chandhok was confused by Piastri’s strategy in Imola, as he ended up losing time to Verstappen and later Norris in the race.

Piastri lamented Verstappen’s good luck with the VSC and safety car stoppages. However, he will have to learn from his error at the first corner and strategy calls if he wants to stay ahead in 2025.