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6 Winners and 6 Losers from Azerbaijan – Who lit up the streets of Baku in the Land of Fire?
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The streets of Baku conjured up some magic on Sunday to deliver a thrilling race-long fight for the Grand Prix victory. Oscar Piastri and McLaren were in a party mood after snatching the win and the lead of the constructors’ championship but there were others who boarded their respective flights bound for Singapore licking their wounds. Lawrence Barretto picks out his winners and losers from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix...
Winner: Oscar Piastri
The greats see an opportunity and take it – and that’s exactly what Oscar Piastri did in Baku. The Australian attacked Charles Leclerc for the lead, just moments after he was told by his race engineer to look after the tyres, and that opened the door for his second Grand Prix win.
READ MORE: Piastri relieved after ‘hanging on for dear life’ to beat Leclerc and claim Baku victory
The Australian is F1’s in-form driver, having scored more than anyone else on the grid over the last seven Grands Prix. He’s scored two wins and two second places with a fourth place in between.
A title shot still looks unlikely (he’s 91 adrift of Verstappen) but it’s this kind of form that will not only be key to McLaren winning their first constructors’ championship for more than two decades but, more importantly for him, mark him out as real force to be reckoned with.
Oscar Piastri sealed a sensational victory in Baku
Loser: Charles Leclerc
There’s just something about Baku and Leclerc that clicks over one lap – and we saw that yet again on Saturday as he secured a sensational fourth successive pole at the Azerbaijani street circuit.
However, his Sunday curse remained as, despite dominating the first stint, he by his own admission didn’t defend hard enough when Piastri attacked. And though he hustled the McLaren driver hard for the next 30-odd laps, he couldn’t find a way back into the lead.
While second is his best-ever result in Baku – and it was his fourth podium in a row – it will be of little consolation. He has won just once from his last 15 starts from pole (in Monaco earlier this year).
Winner: George Russell
This was George Russell’s first podium since he took victory in Austria and third of the season – and while he was frustrated the pace was so different when he swapped compounds, when the dust settles, he’ll likely consider this weekend was a great stab at damage limitation.
He started the weekend on the backfoot, having lost a bunch of running time because of a precautionary power unit change, but was the stronger Mercedes in qualifying and took a chunky points score on Sunday afternoon, helped by inheriting two places when Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz collided.
Russell earned a surprise podium thanks to the crash between Perez and Sainz, while Leclerc lost out on the lead in Baku despite a strong first stint
Loser: Max Verstappen
This was another chastening weekend for championship leader Max Verstappen, who was outshone by Red Bull team mate Perez throughout the weekend.
Verstappen started outside the top-five for the third time in four races and only finished higher than he started because Perez and Sainz collided late on, allowing him to leap up two places to fifth. A VSC for that collision prevented him from having a go at fastest lap, having just boxed for the softs.
He has now gone seven races without a Grand Prix win (his last was way back in Spain) and he's stood on the podium just once in five events. The only positive is that Lando Norris chipped just three points out of his still healthy championship lead, which now stands at 59.
Winner: Lando Norris
Norris suffered his first Q1 elimination since last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix as he backed off when he saw a yellow flag for the ailing Alpine of Esteban Ocon.
But he battled back sensationally in the Grand Prix from 15th to take a superb fourth – a position which was aided by the Perez/Sainz shunt – and the fastest lap of the race.
Verstappen's winless streak goes on after finishing fifth in Baku
That he was able to catch and pass title rival Verstappen in the closing stages – making up more than 15 seconds in the process - was more than even he thought was possible.
And his superb defence of Perez when the team asked him to control the Mexican’s pace to help team mate Piastri pit and rejoin ahead was critical to the Australian securing victory.
Losers: RB
RB have gone off the boil in recent races, with Baku proving to be another painful weekend despite the team bringing some updates that boss Laurent Mekies said gave them some performance improvement.
Yuki Tsunoda’s race was over almost as soon as it started thanks to damage sustained in a collision with Lance Stroll while Daniel Ricciardo incurred a huge amount of tyre graining which Mekies said was “extremely unusual” and that prevented him for challenging for points.
Once comfortable in sixth in the constructors’ championship, RB are looking in their rear-view mirrors with Haas just five points behind and Williams chasing, too.
Yuki Tsunoda was forced to retire from the race in what was a tough weekend for RB
Winners: McLaren
McLaren have had a lot of grief over their treatment of team orders but they’ve weathered that storm supremely and done a better job than everyone else where it matters on track to bring home the points.
First and fourth in Baku was enough to lift them into the lead of the constructors’ championship for the first time since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix and it comes just 21 months after they sat bottom of the standings after race one in Bahrain.
They now lead Red Bull by 20 points while extending their podium run to 13 Grands Prix. They have won three of the last five and finished second in the other two. The momentum is well and truly with them right now.
Loser: Nico Hulkenberg
Nico Hulkenberg was outqualified by his super sub team mate Ollie Bearman but was on course to finish ahead of him, before two critical mistakes dropped him out of the points and behind the Briton at the flag.
Nico Hulkenberg finished 11th in Baku, the seventh time he's done so in 2024
The first was a touch with the barriers that saw him lose a position to Franco Colapinto. The second was a lapse in concentration that didn’t see him react to a green light quick enough after a yellow flag period – and that allowed Lewis Hamilton and Bearman to sneak past.
He crossed the line 11th for the seventh time this season, breaking the record for the most times anyone has finished one place outside the points in a single campaign (Michele Alboreto previously held the record for his efforts in 1992).
Winner: Ollie Bearman
For the second time in succession, Ollie Bearman seized his chance to star on the Formula 1 stage with an assured and confident drive to 10th in Baku for Haas.
Called in to replace Kevin Magnussen who was banned for this weekend after exceeding the permitted number of penalty points on his super licence, Bearman reminded Haas why they signed him to a full-time seat next year with a mature performance across the weekend.
Having outqualified Hulkenberg, he ran in the points, reacted well when the team said he was overmanaging the tyres and battled those around him – including Hamilton – hard on his way to the final point.
In doing so, he becomes the first driver in F1 history to score for two different constructors in his first two Grands Prix (he was seventh when subbing for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia earlier this year).
Ollie Bearman bagged a point for Haas in just his second F1 race
Losers: Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez was hunting for the lead while Carlos Sainz had caught the leading trio to make it a four-way fight when they got a little too close for comfort and collided, pitching both into the wall when battling over P3.
It was unfortunate for Sainz, who had secured his best-ever qualifying in Baku with third and briefly held the final podium spot (which would have been his first since Austria) before the collision led to his second failure to see the chequered flag in 2024.
It was more painful for Perez, who was enjoying his strongest race weekend since race five in China. The Mexican had outperformed team mate Verstappen all weekend and was looking set to end his 11-race run without a podium before the clash.
2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Huge drama in Baku as Perez and Sainz crash on the penultimate lap
Winners: Williams
Williams secured their best result of the season as Alex Albon secured a brilliant seventh, one place ahead of Franco Colapinto who scored his first F1 points.
It was only the second time in the last three seasons that Williams have got both cars in the points and that healthy points haul pushes them above Alpine into eighth in the constructors’ championship, just 13 behind Haas.
The British team were strong all weekend long, with Colapinto outqualifying Albon by one place to start ninth, and both cars showing superb race pace across both stints. They head to Singapore – where they are set to introduce an upgrade – in fine spirits.
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