RACE REPORT | F1 Azerbaijan 2024

Oscar Piastri managed to overtake and then hold off pole-sitter Charles Leclerc to secure his second career win in the 2024 Azerbaijan Gran Prix. George Russell found himself on the podium, after a collision between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, while battling for third place.

A few mash-ups after Saturday’s qualifying as some drivers faced penalties.

Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon both started from the pitlane due to power unit changes outside the parc fermé regulations.

Guanyu Zhou also changed power unit components with the difference, that he made the switch ‘in time’ and because of that started P17.

Pierre Gasly got disqualified from yesterday’s qualifying due to exceedance of the instantaneous fuel mass flow and after a good P13 result dropped to P18 at the race start.

Lando Norris, who had to slow down under yellow flags in his qualifying flying lap, leading to a surprising Q1 exit, had to start P15.

Charles Leclerc started on pole position, with Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez right behind him.

The championship leader Max Verstappen began the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from sixth position.

Gasly, Ocon, Zhou, Norris, Ricciardo, and Albon started the race on hard compound tyres. Everyone else on mediums.

The race start avoided any big incidents with all 20 drivers having clear start and exciting Turn 1 without any contact with other cars but that doesn’t mean that nothing happened on the first lap.

Sergio Perez moved up to third place right after the start, leaving Carlos Sainz behind him. Charles Leclerc stayed in the lead with Oscar Piastri in second.

Lando Norris managed to make up 3 positions on the first lap, moving him from P15 to P12. Same as Pierre Gasly who moved up from P18 to Norris’ original starting position.

The reigning champion Max Verstappen overtook George Russell on the first lap as well and took fifth position.

Lance Stroll suffered a puncture after contact with Yuki Tsunoda on the first lap, forcing the Canadian driver to go to the pits. For Tsunoda, it had an even worse outcome as he had to retire the car later on.

Heading into lap 5, Norris was already in the top 10, Leclerc still in the lead, and Verstappen in fifth. The biggest moment had rookie Oliver Bearman who nearly crashed into a wall.

The first pit stops came on lap 13 for the top teams. Verstappen, Russell, and Perez headed into the pits, while Leclerc, Piastri, and Sainz stayed out in this race order.

On lap 16 Piastri decided to come into the pits but he was under an under-cut threat of Perez. However, Lando Norris managed to amazingly hold Perez behind him and his teammate got to come out in front of the Red Bull driver.

Charles Leclerc came to change his tyres a lap later and came out of the pits just before Alex Albon (who stayed out because of a different strategy), to take second position behind his teammate Sainz.

On lap number 20 we got a change in the lead as Oscar Piastri after amazing late breaks managed to take the first position from Leclerc! Amazing move from the Australian driver.

The battle continued for many laps after with Leclerc being so close behind Piastri, however without succeeding to overtake. The Monaqasque driver on his hunt to take the lead had a few big moments when he even touched a wall once!

Just before the end on lap 47, Lance Stroll had to retire the car due to problems with the breaks on his Aston Martin.

Leclerc gave up the battle with Piastri as he had his hands full of Perez, who started pushing from behind. 

The biggest moment came with only one lap left to the end, when Carlos Sainz from fourth position overtook Perez in third and while the Mexican driver tried to get his position back, they made contact and both ended in the wall. George Russell then found himself in third position out of nowhere.

Oscar Piastri secured his second career win after he amazingly held off Charles Leclerc, who then finished second for Ferrari. After a contact in the battle for third place between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, George Russell found himself on the podium for Mercedes.

Lando Norris finished fourth after starting from P15, ahead of Max Verstappen in fifth and Fernando Alonso in sixth, who delivered a good result for Aston Martin.

2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix results: