Azerbaijan Grand Prix | Oscar Piastri claims second career victory

In a derby that ended in disaster, Oscar Piastri experienced “one of [ses] best” performances of his career on Sunday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The young Australian got the result he deserved; a first place, his second of his career.

Charles Leclerc took second place, while George Russell took advantage of a nasty collision between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr. at the end of the race to climb onto the third step of the podium – more on that later.

Lando Norris, parts 15^e on the grid, gradually made his way to the front and finished in 4^e rank. Result: McLaren has overtaken Red Bull and taken first place in the constructors’ championship. Who would have believed it just a few months ago!?

“It’s thanks to the team that we’ve managed to make a step forward in the last 18 months, and they’ve also helped me improve,” Piastri said, after recalling that the team was in last place when he arrived last season. “Results like these weren’t possible for me 12 months ago. It’s a huge team effort and I’m looking forward to what the future holds.”

It was a race full of twists and turns on the Baku circuit.

First there was the fight for first place between Leclerc and Piastri. Having started in the lead on medium rubber, the Ferrari had built up a 6-second lead over the McLaren. This lead melted like snow in the sun when the papaya car switched to hard rubber.

Au 20^e lap, Piastri took advantage of the slipstream and DRS to easily overtake Leclerc. The latter seemed completely surprised by the maneuver. The McLaren spent the rest of the race defending itself against a Ferrari that pushed and pushed again.

“I had to try it because I knew if I didn’t pass him it would never happen,” Piastri said after the win. “I went for the big shot, I made it, and then I hung on for dear life for the next 35 laps.”

Leclerc admitted he began to doubt himself the moment he switched to hard tyres. “To be honest, we lost the race when I didn’t defend as I should have at the end of a straight,” he later admitted. “But that’s how it is. Sometimes you make mistakes. I’ll learn from that.”

“McLaren and Oscar did an exceptional job and were better than us,” summed up the Monegasque.

A catastrophic end for Red Bull

Until 50^e After 51 laps, everything indicated that third place would go to Sergio Perez or Carlos Sainz Jr. The two drivers were following each other closely, until Perez attempted an overtake to take second place from Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc defended well, and Sainz Jr. took advantage of the situation to overtake Perez. The latter, in his Red Bull, continued to push to defend his third place, but the two cars collided and hit the barrier head-on.

George Russell, a long way back, simply rolled to the finish line to hand Mercedes third place.

“I’m certainly surprised,” the Briton said. “I’m relieved to see that Carlos and Checo are OK.”

Russell had a good race, notably overtaking Max Verstappen for 6th^e place at 34^e lap, but there was no indication that he would be on the podium. He himself mentioned that he “should have finished fifth”. “That was the real result. Obviously, with Lando qualifying yesterday, he probably would have been there too [à l’avant]. I don’t want to get excited about this podium; we have a lot of work to do.”

This end of the race is catastrophic for Red Bull, which tried Sunday to defend its first place in the constructors’ championship, in vain. The accident cost the team valuable points, and Perez individually. Especially since Verstappen was overtaken by Norris; the triple world champion had to settle for 5th^e place.

Not only did the reigning champions drop from first to second in the standings, they are 20 points behind McLaren. Ferrari, meanwhile, are just 31 points behind Red Bull.

Williams finishes in points, Stroll retires

A few teams stood out on the Baku street circuit. This was particularly the case for Williams, whose two drivers finished in the points. Alexander Albon and Franco Colapinto respectively took the 7^e et 8^e ranks.

Oliver Bearman, in his second race in Formula 1, this time with Haas, once again finished in the top 10in 10^e place.

For his part, Lance Stroll was unlucky; he came into contact with Yuki Tsunoda’s RB on the first lap. The Quebecer therefore had to retreat to the pits for a tire change, before returning to the track. The Aston Martin was never able to get back on track; he was forced to retire in the final laps anyway. Tsunoda, for his part, had to withdraw on the 16th^e turn due to excessive damage to his car.

Check out the race results

Check out the drivers’ rankings