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AZERBAIJAN GP – Oscar Piastri takes dominant ten-second win ahead of Charles Leclerc admits late bedlam in Baku

Testing & Race Reports
Jack
15-09-2024

Oscar Piastri has beaten Charles Leclerc to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by ten seconds. The McLaren driver drove a perfect race and fended off the Ferrari in the closing stages before a dramatic crash between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez while battling for third saw the race finish behind the safety car.

Piastri started the race from second and stayed with Leclerc for much of the opening stint before lunging his way past the Ferrari at the pit stop phase, from then on he looked to have a slight edge over the Ferrari. It was the most eventful race of the year in terms of battling as Piastri and Leclerc went wheel to wheel several times, then Verstappen and Norris also got close at different points in the race.

But Leclerc would not make it an easy sail to victory, as he repeatedly fended off attacks from the Ferrari as the closing lap continued through until the race dramatically ended with Sainz and Perez crashing with two laps to go. Ultimately leaving him unable to go after the McLaren.

Leclerc failing to repeat what he did in Monaco breaking that unwanted record of four consecutive poles in Baku into victory, but he did make a brilliant start and remained in the lead for much of the first half before being overtaken by Piastri on lap twenty.

But Leclerc said he felt he and Ferrari had not made the right set-up choices for the hard tyre because he had done no race-simulation running as a result of problems in Friday practice, and he struggled after his pit stop as a result.

For the remainder of the race they fought wheel to wheel, but the McLaren driver always had an answer for every move closing the door at every opportunity. Perez, before the collision with Sainz, also sort his opportunity but was defended off beautifully by Leclerc, allowing Sainz to close in.

But when it came to making the move for third, it all went wrong thus ending the race under a virtual safety car.

George Russell finished third twenty seconds behind Leclerc and ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on another key day in the fight for this championship. Russell had looked on course for fifth ahead of the two title rivals before the dramatic climax.

Piastri takes his second race victory of the season, he said “I tried at the start of the race to get in front and once I dropped out of DRS I didn’t have the race. After we stop I saw we were pretty close again, I felt like we had a little bit of extra grip and I had to go for it because knew that if I didn’t get past at the start of the stint that I was never going to get past.”

Leclerc added, “I think as soon as we put the hard tyres on [when he realised he couldn’t fight for P1]. On the medium we were very competitive, and the car felt good. We went for a set up direction which in the race was a bit more difficult to manage. Especially on the hard tyres I was struggling to keep those rears and at the end I thought in one corner or two I could put it in the wall, it was very close.”

Russell said “I am surprised [to be on the podium], I’m glad to see Carlos and Checo were ok but there was so much hard work from everyone in the team. There were engine changes in my team, engine changes for Lewis, so much going on and everyone working so hard.”

“We had a really bad start of the race and I was dropping off a lot, but on the hard tyre I think we were one of the quickest out there and I think that was great. I got past Max and that is an added bonus to standing on the podium.”

On a difficult weekend for both title contenders in Baku, however instead of losing ground as he expected after a poor qualifying Norris finished ahead of Verstappen. After the McLaren was knocked out in Q1 yesterday, a long-opening stint brought Norris back into play. He then overcut Verstappen to take fourth in the closing stages. With first and fourth for McLaren allowing them to overtake Red Bull in the constructors.

Baku has a history, though a lot earlier in the season, of being one of the defining races in a championship fight but this has been a tough weekend for both drivers. Though Norris has done better in limiting the damage given his poor qualifying whereas Verstappen failed to capitalise because of his struggles

McLaren has taken the lead of the constructors by twenty points from Red Bull, while Norris is fifty-nine points behind Verstappen. In theory, Norris if he wins the next two Grands Prix and the sprint in Austin with Verstappen not scoring, he could be a point behind going into the final five races, he also took the fastest lap point.

Fernando Alonso was sixth finishing seven seconds behind Verstappen and ahead of the Williams duo, Alex Albon just over two seconds ahead of teammate Franco Colapinto. But it

Williams has had a really good weekend despite the Argentine crash in practice he has bounced back strongly to finish not far off Albon, who it seems maximised their performance this weekend to take a huge haul of points in the bottom end of the constructors which could be worth millions. Albon had run as high as third in the first stint

Lewis Hamilton was ninth eight-tenths ahead of Ollie Bearman, the 2025 Haas driver scoring points in both his Grand Prix starts this season. A decent drive from both Englishman, as the seven time champion started from the pit lane after a engine change, and Bearman beating his teammate Nico Hulkenberg by just over three tenths, and deliver one of Haas’ strongest weekends of the season.

Pierre Gasly was twelfth he was just under half a minute ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Guanyu Zhou, who were the final cars on the lead lap. Gasly’s teammate Esteban Ocon finishing four seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas to complete the finishers.

Perez seventeenth ahead of Sainz and Stroll all classified as finishing as they completed ninety percent of the race, while Yuki Tsunoda was the only classified retirement on lap fourteen.

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