Oscar Piastri wins Azerbaijan Grand Prix in front of Charles Leclerc. On the Baku street circuit, the 23-year-old Australian McLaren driver took his second career win at the end of a thrilling duel with the Monegasque’s red driver who had to slow down due to tyre problems three laps from the end. Third was the English Mercedes driver George Russell.
On the Baku street circuit, on the penultimate lap there was also a bad accident between Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull. The Mexican’s right front tire got stuck on the Spaniard’s left rear, sending both cars into the barriers. From there the Virtual Safety Car froze the positions until the finish.
Leclerc’s words
“We weren’t as fast on the hard tyres as we were on the mediums, but McLaren were still quicker than us and did an exceptional job.” These are the words of Charles Leclerc, Ferrari driver, after finishing second in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix race at the Baku circuit. “On the medium tyres we were fast all weekend and also during the race,” the Monegasque began. “In free practice I didn’t have much chance to try the hard tyres, so as soon as we put them on I realised I couldn’t catch Piastri. McLaren did an exceptional job, they were faster than us. I’m also sorry about Sainz’s accident, I hope everyone is okay. Not a great day for us, when Piastri overtook me I thought it was just a matter of time and patience before catching him, instead we lost the race when I couldn’t get close enough at the end of the straight,” concluded Leclerc.
“With the hard tyres I completely lacked support, unlike what happened in the first stint with the mediums – Leclerc added to Sky – The defense on Piastri was wrong on my part. I didn’t have much room for maneuver on the brakes, so I chose to go and get the DRS on the straight, thinking that it would then be easy to overtake him. However, the McLaren, even under our DRS, was faster. I made a mistake in judgment, I don’t know what I could have done to prepare myself better for this race situation. We need to look at the performance of the hards, because that’s where we made a mistake, struggling with the race pace. On the mediums I had a lot of support – the Monegasque admitted – while with the hard tyres this never happened”.