Oscar Piastri won the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a commanding drive from second on the grid, as Charles Leclerc failed for the fourth time in a row to convert a Baku pole into a win.
"Piastri has arrived," trumpeted Mark Webber, after his protégé, Piastri, took his second Formula 1 career win in Baku last Sunday.
Indeed, the Australian youngster has arrived with a splash and stamped his authority on F1 and McLaren as one of the young guns who will be the future of the sport.
Overall, the Azerbaijan GP was quite interesting and gave a clear indication of the current situation within F1 as McLaren's resurgence continues while Red Bull's decline does not seem to be slowing down despite the team saying otherwise.
Ferrari are enjoying their moment in the sun as, after Monza, Baku was a track that favored their SF-24. Expect them to be strong in Singapore next weekend as well - remember Carlos Sainz last year?
In Azerbaijan, we also saw the rookies deliver solid performances, putting their more experienced teammates to shame on a track that takes no prisoners - just ask Leclerc, and don't forget Sainz and Sergio Perez.
Here are our Takeaways from the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Will McLaren have to use team orders now?
Ahead of the Azerbaijan GP, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella claimed that the team will "bias" their support to Lando Norris, who is the closet rival to Max Verstappen in the 2024 F1 drivers' championship.
Piastri, on the other hand, said he would be happy to support his teammate if the need arises, but in Baku, he made sure that was not the case.
Norris fluffed his qualifying while Piastri was second behind Leclerc, and with that put an end to any talks about team orders as McLaren was behind the Australian to go and get the win from his Ferrari rival.
And he delivered. He kept Leclerc under pressure in the first stint, and once both changed tyres (onto Hards) Piastri made use of his tyre advantage and passed the struggling lead Ferrari with a brilliant move into Turn 1, out-braking Leclerc and taking the lead on Lap 20.
And while that was impressive, the way Piastri defended from Leclerc for the next 30 laps or so was even more admirable, avoiding mistakes with a serene mindset and calm drive to the chequered flag.
At the chequered flag, Piastri was a cool as ever, a trademark of the young Aussie so far, and his comments later about how McLaren have helped him develop into the F1 driver that was able to deliver such a performance in Baku, show his humility and maturity.
Norris will undoubtedly be rattled by his teammate equaling his number of wins and now has to make sure he doesn't make any missteps - like his Baku qualifying blunder - in the remaining races and prove to McLaren that he is worthy of benefiting from their "bias".
Otherwise, Piastri will be unleashed and Verstappen will be at ease.
Red Bull claim their pace is back... How's that?
Red Bull Racing brought a slightly revised floor body to their RB20 for the Azerbaijan GP, hoping to fix the issues they have been dealing with lately.
The new floor seemed to offer some improvement, and Perez was immediately feeling comfortable in the car, keeping in mind that he is also a Baku expert, having won there two times, more than any F1 driver.
As for Verstappen and, while he appeared to be faring better, he was not really seeming at one with his car, and while he showed flashes of pace in qualifying (fastest in Q2), sixth was the best he could muster, Perez fourth.
Now in the race, Perez did well and remained in touch with the frontrunners after passing Sainz, and while the Mexican was on his way to the podium, his clumsy crash with Sainz ruined his chances.
Perez's passing attempt on the outside of Turn 1 was never going to happen, especially with a driver like Leclerc, and that put him in a position to be attacked by Sainz.
As for Verstappen, he struggled all race long with the car and couldn't pass Sainz earlier in the race and then lost a position to George Russell in the Mercedes. He later blamed some setup changes to the car that made it difficult to drive.
With Verstappen finishing fifth after his teammate's crash, the latter consequently not scoring points, Red Bull lost their lead in the F1 constructors' championship to McLaren and are now 20 points behind.
However, the defending champions insisted the pace of their car is back, which makes us somehow skeptical. Perez was fast, but then he always goes well around Baku. As for Verstappen, he was out of sorts once again.
The Dutchman is the one fighting for a fourth F1 Drivers' Title, and that means the RB20 has to be fast in his hands in order for Red Bull to claim they have recovered.
What makes matters more vague is the next race being in Singapore, a venue where Red Bull have historically struggled with their current generation of F1 cars, which may mean that they still need more time to find their way out of the woods.
Leclerc's first Baku win has to wait
You have to feel for Leclerc. He has always been mighty in Baku, and with four consecutive poles there, he sadly has no wins to show for it.
While in the race Leclerc did everything he could to keep his first place, we need to look at his in and out laps when he stopped for tyres, not to mention his crash in FP1 that put him on the back foot in terms of track time to set the car up properly.
That could be the reason behind Leclerc's struggles on the Hard tyres after the pitstop, and to be honest, it was impressive that he could keep Piastri under pressure that long before his tyres went off the cliff.
To add to Ferrari's disappointment, Sainz crashed on the penultimate lap after getting tangled with Perez in the Red Bull, ending both their races.
Sainz was having a quite race and towards the end finally came into contention for a podium position but then threw it all away.
It was a stupid incident by both drivers, as Sainz was chasing Leclerc for the tow and did not see or chose not to see Perez who in turn kept going straight instead of going to the left a bit. While it is understandable that the F1 driver's instinct will tell him not to back off, both drivers in this instant had a chance of scoring points and blew it.
Not so smart from two veteran drivers, and the stewards did well not to take any further action. The outcome of the incident was a sufficient punishment.
Azerbaijan GP Quick Hits
- Williams's airbox fiasco in qualifying in Q3 was plain embarrassing, and despite all the fancy words James Vowles used to explain the incident in an interview, he could not change what it actually was: A ridiculous screw up.
- An impressive F1 weekend for Oliver Bearman at Haas, the youngster already proving for his 2025 team that he was the right choice. He outqualified Nico Hulkenberg who is known for being a decent qualifier.
Bearman may have lucked into the final points position, but at least he was there to be one of the drivers to pick up the pieces of Perez's and Sainz' crash. - Franco Colapinto was excellent for Williams as well. Although he crashed in practice, he bounced back to qualify in the top ten, ahead of Alex Albon. Albon's airbox fiasco must have affected his final lap in Q3, but for Colapinto to reach the top ten shootout was impressive enough.
The Argentine also scored points in eight position. He would've scored points regardless of the crash on the penultimate lap. - Mercedes lucked into the podium with Russell, while Lewis Hamilton had a miserable race to ninth. The eight-time F1 constructors' champions still do not know what makes their W15 fast and what makes it slow which is clear by the way their form just yo-yos over the course of an F1 weekend.
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