Oscar Piastri wins Azerbaijan GP to give McLaren the constructors’ lead
Oscar Piastri wins while Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz crash
Oscar Piastri brilliantly overtook Charles Leclerc to claim his second F1 victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which ended following a dramatic collision between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc led the opening stages from pole position and appeared to be in control until Piastri suddenly reeled the Ferrari driver in and pulled off an incredible late pass down the inside of Turn 1 on Lap 20.
The pair ran nose-to-tail and regularly duked it out for the victory, but Piastri’s impressive defence at key parts of the track saw him keep Leclerc behind, denying the Monegasque - who has taken four straight poles in Baku - a first victory on the streets near the shores of the Caspian sea.
It came on a weekend McLaren publicly confirmed they would favour Lando Norris over Piastri in order to boost his championship chances, but there was no need for such team orders after a nightmare qualifying left Norris out of position and down in 15th.
There was drama on the penultimate lap as Sainz and Perez came to blows while battling for the final spot on the podium behind Leclerc. Perez tagged Sainz’s Ferrari on the run to Turn 3, sending both cars into the barriers on the inside and bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.
Mercedes’ George Russell took full advantage to complete the podium in third, ahead of Lando Norris, who staged an impressive recovery drive as he surged into the points and overtook main title rival Verstappen three laps from the end to reduce the Dutchman’s championship advantage to 59 points.
Behind a frustrated Verstappen came Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto, who secured a double points finish for Williams.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who started from the pitlane, and fellow Briton Oliver Bearman claimed the final points on offer in ninth and 10th for Mercedes and Haas respectively.
McLaren have now moved 20 points clear of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
