Piastri shines, holds off Leclerc to take victory in scintillating Baku duel; Russell gifted P3 after Perez & Sainz crash each other out; Norris recovers to P6 ahead of Verstappen in P7

McLaren’s up and coming young ace Oscar Piastri withstood lap after lap of relentless pressure from Fearrri’s Charles Leclerc, holding off the hard charging Prancing Horse over the course of a long final tire stint at the always tricky Baku City Circuit to take victory in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. With those two drivers clearly the class of the field on the day, the 51-lap race came down to a two car duel for the win. As the laps wound down, Piastri was just able to hold off Leclerc despite the Monegasque’s best efforts, with both men struggling with aging Hard compound Pirelli tires after choosing the preferred one-stop strategy. Eventually, it was Leclerc’s tires that fell off the performance cliff after all that time spent in Piastri’s wake, and the young Aussie earned his second victory of the season and his career by a deceptively large ten-second margin. Leclerc started the Grand Prix from pole, the fourth of his career at Baku, but he has frustratingly yet to convert that one-lap mastery into a win. Still, his second place finish continued Leclerc’s excellent run of form that has seen him podium four races in a row and earn a monumental victory in Italy a fortnight ago.

Matching each other – quite literally – for the majority of the race! #F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/KPw83o20xU

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2024

Ferrari were hoping for even bigger things on the day, as was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who looked poised for a rejuvenating P3 podium finish. But the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz closed the gap on Perez late in the race, the Spaniard also looking keen on grabbing a spot on the podium. With Leclerc seeming to fall into Perez’s clutches and P2 possibly on for the much maligned Red Bull driver, Perez made a lunge on the leading Ferrari steaming into Turn 1 on the second to last lap. But Leclerc was able to hold off the Mexican and Sainz pounced on the Red Bull’s loss off momentum. As Leclerc scampered away from danger, Sainz and Perez were parallel speeding towards Turn 3, with Perez looking to regain his momentum and the position. But they both drifted into each other, touched rear wheels and were shunted into the wall. In shocking fashion, it was over for both drivers with only one lap left in a race that had looked so promising for both however their own personal battle might have turned out had they not made contact.

Sparks fly on the streets of Baku! 💥😱

This moment between Sainz and Perez effectively ended the race, and cost both the chance of a podium!#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/iR6UTynvpv

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2024

That contretemps really hurt both Ferrari and Red Bull in the Constructors’ Standings, while McLaren vaulted into the lead of that all important contest thanks not only to Piastri’s sweet victory but also Lando Norris overcoming a poor P15 start and persevering all the way up to a post-carnage P4 finish. Norris even made a late race overtake on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for that position on a day when Verstappen was clearly the slower of the two RB20s. It perfectly encapsulated two stark realities facing the Dutch three-time champion and team Red Bull: the car has undeniably lost pace to McLaren and to a lesser extent Ferrari; and Verstappen is now routinely struggling to extract performance from the car after being in perfect harmony with it to start the season. Things  could also get worse before they get better for Red Bull and their Dutch master, as the next race is in Singapore and the Marina Bay Street Circuit is a longtime bogey track for the team.

After the Sainz-Perez crash, the race eded under Virtual Safety car and George Russell ended up the lucky third place finisher on a day when Mercedes were really nowhere. Teammate Lewis Hamilton likewise benefitted from the double DNF ahead and leapt into the points in P9 after struggling all day outside the top ten due to starting from the pt lane after post-qualifying engine component changes. Aston Marin’s savvy vet Fernando Alonso was promoted to P6 after driving a really solid race in a middling car, while Williams’ Alexander Albon slotted into P7. Rookies Franco Colapinto for Williams and Oliver Bearman for Haas came home P8 and P10 respectively. Colapinto will finish out the season after Williams gave American Logan Sargeant the sack before Monza, the Argentinian youngster making the decision look good with a solid double-points day for the team after a very poised drive over the course of an extra-long second stint. Bearman’s equally impressive drive was likely a one-off, though, due to Haas’s regular pilot Kevin Magnussen serving a one-race ban here due to penalty points accumulation.

Top 10 finishers of the Azerbaijan GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time and it’s another tight and tricky track — Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit. A lot of very frustrated contending drivers will be looking to get back on form there, while Piastri and Leclerc will simply be looking to keep their mojo going. Hope to see you then for all the twists and turns that lie ahead at that spectacular night race!