Oscar Piastri beat Charles Leclerc in a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix; Lando Norris brilliantly recovered to fourth from 15th on grid, finishing ahead of championship rival Max Verstappen; Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz crashed out on the penultimate lap in the battle for third
Monday 16 September 2024 09:57, UK
Oscar Piastri fended off Charles Leclerc to win a thrilling Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Lando Norris recovered to fourth and beat Max Verstappen.
Piastri came out on top after an incredible battle for the lead for most of the race with Leclerc, before Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz collided in the fight for third on the penultimate lap in a dramatic crash.
George Russell benefitted from the collision to take third, with Norris coming home in fourth after overtaking Verstappen late in the race on an alternative strategy. Norris reduces his deficit to the Dutchman to 59 points in the Drivers' Championship.
Verstappen struggled for most of the race as he finished fifth and McLaren now lead Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship by 20 points.
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.
Fernando Alonso was sixth for Aston Martin, with Williams' Alex Albon in seventh and rookie Franco Colapinto scoring his first points in eighth.
Lewis Hamilton had a quiet race in ninth and British teenager Oliver Bearman was 10th for Haas.
Early on, it looked like Leclerc was cruising to victory as he pulled six seconds clear of Piastri before the first pit stops.
Piastri pitted on lap 16 and just stayed ahead of Perez after Norris tactically held up the Red Bull driver in the tight middle sector.
Leclerc responded by pitting a lap later but warmed up his hard tyres slowly and Piastri took advantage with a stunning overtake into Turn One on lap 20.
From then until the closing laps, Leclerc and Piastri were never more than one second apart as they went wheel to wheel on several occasions.
Whenever Leclerc got close on the approach to Turn One, Piastri covered the inside and was able to stop Leclerc from getting alongside on the exit of the corner.
The McLaren driver also had great traction off the corners as Leclerc just couldn't find a way by in the epic battle for the lead.
Perez was consistently within two seconds of the leading pair and ready to take advantage of an incident, but Piastri and Leclerc kept things clean.
Eventually, Leclerc's tyres began to degrade so Piastri pulled away in the final five laps to win his second career F1 race.
"I tried at the start of the race to get in front, but once I dropped out of DRS, I just didn't have the pace," said Piastri.
"After the stop, I saw we were pretty close again, and I felt like we had a little bit of extra grip, and I had to go for it because I knew that if I didn't get past, I was, didn't get past the start of the stint, I was never going to get past, so I went for a pretty big lunge, but managed to pull it off, and then hung on for dear life for the next 35 laps.
"The last couple of laps, once he dropped out of DRS, were a little bit more relaxing, but there's no such thing as a relaxing lap around here. So it was hard work, but no, I think that definitely goes down as one of my better races of my career.
Leclerc had to look over his shoulder in the closing stages with Perez all over him and Ferrari team-mate Sainz closing in fast. The Monegasque driver defended well as Perez went deep at the first corner on the penultimate lap, so Sainz slipped through.
Perez came back at the Spaniard after Turn Two, only for the pair to tangle and hit the wall hard, so the race ended under the Virtual Safety Car.
Very few people thought Norris would make inroads into Verstappen in the title race after a disastrous qualifying, which left him starting in 15th.
The British driver elected to start on the hard tyres, rather than the mediums, so ran long and found himself in front of Verstappen after the Red Bull driver pitted.
Verstappen was unable to overtake his championship rival as Norris aggressively shut the door on him on lap 24, which was the closest the reigning world champion got to getting by.
Norris then tactically used Alex Albon to help him by staying in the Williams driver's DRS, so Verstappen couldn't get close on the straights.
Verstappen's tyres faded away as Norris pitted with 14 laps remaining for fresh mediums. He was 15 seconds behind Verstappen and began to light up the timing screens with purple sectors and fastest laps.
The McLaren driver caught and overtook Verstappen with three laps remaining to take sixth, which became fourth following Perez and Sainz's clash.
Elsewhere, Hamilton could only finish ninth after starting from the pit lane due to an engine change.
Hamilton was stuck in traffic for most of the race and complained about his tyre performance on the mediums and hards.
Williams had their first double points finish of the season as Albon took seventh from team-mate Colapinto, who is already proving to be a great replacement for Logan Sargeant in just his second F1 race.
Bearman finished 10th in a one-off race for Haas as he substituted for Kevin Magnussen, who was banned from Baku due to reaching the limit for penalty points but will return in Singapore.
Formula 1's thrilling 2024 season continues live on Sky Sports F1 next weekend with more stunning street circuit action, this time under the lights at the Singapore Grand Prix. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytime
