Starting from pole, two weeks after his success at Monza (Italy) on the home turf of his team, Ferrari, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc could not resist Oscar Piastri (McLaren) on the Baku circuit, where the Formula 1 (F1) Azerbaijan Grand Prix took place on Sunday, September 15. The 23-year-old Australian, second on the starting grid, reversed his position with his opponent at 20e turn, to take the lead and never let it go.
At the end of the 51 laps completed almost without any damage, a delicate maneuver by the Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) defending on the Mexican Sergio Perez (Red Bull), changed the race for the podium. An accident – without seriousness for the drivers – which opened the way to the Briton Georges Russell (Mercedes), third by default in an event on which his team did not however weigh.
The three-time reigning world champion, Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who has been struggling with his car and his single-seater since the start of the summer, also took advantage of the events to cross the line in fifth position and preserve his first place in the drivers’ standings, with 313 points. Briton Lando Norris (4e in Baku), teammate of the winner of the day at McLaren, still occupies the second position (254 points). Starting in fifteenth position, after failed qualifying, the native of Bristol (north of England) made a spectacular comeback this Sunday.
Thanks to the consistency of Lando Norris and the success of Oscar Piastri – the first in McLaren’s history on the Azerbaijan circuit – the British team has achieved a real feat. For the first time since 1998, it could win the constructors’ championship, now showing a twenty-point lead (476) over its main rival Red Bull (456), with seven Grands Prix remaining before the end of the season.
“When you look at where we started last year… And now we’re leading the league, recalled, at the microphone of the organization, the Australian driver, moved when getting out of his car after what he describes as “best race of his career”. All the credit goes to the team: we have continued to improve the car, and I have also improved.”
Alpine still in difficulty
The words of the winner of the day may find a particular resonance with other teams, in a much less good position. Starting with the French Alpine, in great difficulty this season and whose two French drivers, Pierre Gasly (12e) and Esteban Ocon (15e), have once again finished outside the Top 10. The situation is no longer surprising, and now seems irremediable, especially since the announcement of Esteban Ocon’s departure to Haas next season.
The same story, more or less, for the seven-time world champion, the Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who will join Ferrari in 2025. Ninth in Baku after leaving the pits – due to changing his engine –, the 39-year-old driver never stopped complaining about his single-seater, going so far as to ask his mechanics during the race how he could “drive this thing.”
With just a few weeks to go until the end of the championship, the suspense remains: a rare occurrence since Max Verstappen took over F1 in 2021. Could the Dutchman be dethroned? If the hypothesis of a setback at the beginning of the summer could be ruled out, as autumn approaches, it now seems possible.