McLaren’s Oscar Piastri made his bold pass on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc stick to take victory for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with George Russel in third for Mercedes.
The race in Baku was an exercise in DRS and hybrid power deployment for both offense and defense for most of the day. Oscar managed to get around Leclerc and then held the Ferrari off with DRS and good use of his stored energy in defense.
It was a great drive from Piastri who drove a brilliant defense for much of the race leading to Leclerc’s tires eventually calling it a day. Thanks to a dual DNF from Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, George Russell inherited third on the podium.
Win
WinA big win for Oscar and McLaren who snatched the win from Ferrari’s hands. Oscar drove brilliantly and managed to do just enough to keep Leclerc behind him but save enough tires to the end. I was concerned he may use up too much of his tires and with Ferrari’s ability to manage their tires, this might have left Oscar vulnerable but it was the other way around for Piastri. A great recover drive from Lando Norris saw him beat Max Verstappen and this gave McLaren the lead in the Constructor’s Championship over Red Bull by 20 points. A big day for McLaren!
A win for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc who managed to take pole and continue their progress toward the front of the grid. Sure, they wanted to win but Charles just couldn’t get back around Piastri and eventually cooked his rear tires trying. A shame as Charles looked great all weekend.
A big win for Williams Racing who got both cars into the points moving the team ahead of Alpine in the Constructor’s Championship. A huge win for Franco Colapinto for a P8 finish just behind his teammate Alex Albon in P7!
A win for Fernando Alonso in P6 as Lance Stroll retired from race. Lando had a relatively lonely race but good points for Aston Martin nonetheless.
A win for George Russell who has a habit of being there when others fall short. This time, he made the podium due to the Perez/Sainz debacle and it’s a good result for the team and George.
Also a win for Haas F1’s Ollie Bearman scored a point.
Fail
FailA fail for Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz who both threw away a potential podium spot in the final Laps of the race and brought out the Virtual Safety Car in the process. Sainz drifted slightly left toward the racing line and Perez was also moving toward the racing line leaving the Stewards to suggest that it was merely a racing incident with no penalties or blame apportionment. A shame that Perez, who seemed to find his pace, ended in the wall instead of the podium.
Rough races for Alpine and RB with all four drivers struggling at the back and Yuki Tsunoda joining Lance Stroll as a DNF. Also a bit of a fail for Haas who didn’t get both cars into the points in a race with attrition like Williams were able to do.
WTH
WTHNot sure what happened to Max but he had no bite and then no grip and then brake issues. Many suggest their developments over the season are a step backwards and that may be the case but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a development road map actually drop a car’s performance off this profoundly. Meanwhile Sergio Perez was on for a podium so there is certainly something odd going on over at Red Bull with Max Verstappen’s car.
Four cars out of the race and Sauber still can’t score a point…that’s harsh!
Pirelli’s View:
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Azerbaijan GP Results:
Pos | No | Driver | Car | Laps | Time/retired | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | 51 | 1:32:58.007 | 25 |
2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 51 | +10.910s | 18 |
3 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 51 | +31.328s | 15 |
4 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 51 | +36.143s | 13 |
5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 51 | +77.098s | 10 |
6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 51 | +85.468s | 8 |
7 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | 51 | +87.396s | 6 |
8 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Williams Mercedes | 51 | +89.541s | 4 |
9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 51 | +92.401s | 2 |
10 | 50 | Oliver Bearman | Haas Ferrari | 51 | +93.127s | 1 |
11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas Ferrari | 51 | +93.465s | 0 |
12 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | 51 | +117.189s | 0 |
13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB Honda RBPT | 51 | +146.907s | 0 |
14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 51 | +148.841s | 0 |
15 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 50 | +1 lap | 0 |
16 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 50 | +1 lap | 0 |
17 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 49 | DNF | 0 |
18 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 49 | DNF | 0 |
19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 45 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB Honda RBPT | 14 | DNF | 0 |
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Something very odd going on at Red Bull indeed… Here’s my (not so crazy?) conspiracy theory. This is really just a bit of fun and is based on the argument that F1 is more of a for-profit show these days than a true sport, and boy are those profits juicy in the modern era! Also bear in mind that corruption is standard business practice for multi-national corporations, and F1 is certainly no stranger to conspiracy. Anyway, here it is. RB have been so dominant over the last few years and were initially running away with the 2024 championship to such… Read more »
I don’t know if you’ve nailed it exactly, but it IS interesting how all these new fans were fleeing F1 and all the sudden Max’s car goes from twice as fast as everyone else to half as fast. The non-conspiracy theory is almost harder to believe.
Don’t forget the McLaren and Merc flexi front wings. Whenever RBR had flexi wings in the past it would be banned within two races at most. And now, while onboard video clearly shows this, FIA has to ‘gather more evidence’. something stinks here, and it aint the fish
So this late race incident demonstrates the question i asked about a year ago, which was mentioned on the podcast but not really answered. When max was careening across the track on starts (like COTA) i asked what if the other car didnt give and they crash, who’s at fault? Apparently the answer from the fia is ‘no one’, which isn’t a very proud moment for a rule system. If i had to call it i’d blame sergio, under the theory that, as the car in front, Carlos’ only obligation was to leave a car’s width to the track edge… Read more »