Charles Leclerc won the qualification for the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan. Oscar Piastri started from the front row next to him. Sainz and Pérez were in the second row, Russell and Verstappen in the third, Alonso and Colapinto in the fourth and Albon and Bearman in the fifth.
Hamilton started from the pits after changing the suspension and engine. Norris crashed out in Q1 and started 15th.
Race
Charles Leclerc kept the lead after the start. Pérez moved into third ahead of Sainz. Verstappen again overtook Russell to fifth. At the end of the first lap, the order in the top ten was: Leclerc, Piastri, Pérez, Sainz, Verstappen, Russell, Alonso, Colapinto, Albon and Bearman.
Stroll had contact with Cunoda and had to pit due to a puncture. Both retired in the later stages of the race.
Norrris started on the hard compound and gradually worked his way up. On the eighth lap he passed Bearman and pitted.
Franco Colapinto was the first to come to a proper stop already at the end of the 10th lap. In the lead, Verstappen and Russell opened the stops after 12 laps. Pérez pitted a lap later and fell behind Norris.
Piastri kept up with Leclerc in the early laps, but he then accelerated and built up a solid lead. The Australian went to the mechanics after 15 laps and returned to the track just ahead of Pérez.
Ferrari reacted and called Leclerc into the pits. The Monacan returned to the track ahead of Alex Albon, who was not yet in the pits at the time. Behind Albon was Piastri. The time gap between Leclerc and Piastri was minimal.
On lap 20, Piastri used DRS to get ahead of Leclerc at the end of the home straight to take the race lead.
Leclerc was able to keep up with Piastri until almost the end of the race and tried to overtake him several times, but he failed.
Norris built up to lap 37/51, put on a medium mixture and started to reduce the loss to Verstappen. On lap 49, Norris got ahead of the Red Bull driver.
Thus, the fifth George Russell moved up to the podium. Thanks to the withdrawal of both drivers, the entire order moved behind them. Franco Colapinto took points in his second race, as did Oliver Bearman, who stepped in for Kevin Magnussen in Baku, who was banned for one race after receiving 12 penalty points.
Oscar Piastri won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell. McLaren took the lead in the Constructors’ Cup.
The results
P. Driver Team Time / lost Laps Points 1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:32:58.007 51 25 2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 01.10.0910 51 18 3 George Russell Mercedes 31.328 51 15 4 Lando Norris McLaren 36.143 51 12+1 5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:17.098 51 10 6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:25.468 51 8 7 Alexander Albon Williams 1:27.396 51 6 8 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:29.541 51 4 9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.401 51 2 10 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:33.127 51 1 11 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:33.465 51 12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:57.189 51 13 Daniel Ricciardo RB 2:26.907 51 14 Kuan-ju Chou Kick Sauber 2:28.841 51 15 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1 lap 50 16 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber 1 lap 50 17 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 2 laps 49 18 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 2 laps 49 – Lance Stroll Aston Martin 45 – Júki Cunoda RB 14
- Fastest lap: Lando Norris
- Rider of the day: Oscar Piastri
Progress
Target:
51/51: Colapinto and Bearman on the bodech!
51/51: Russell on stage.
51/51: VSC
50/51: Pérez attacks Leclerc but Sainz gets in front of him instead and then a collision ensues.
50/51: Pérez and Sainz collide!
49/51: Norris ahead of Verstappen!
49/51: Sainz finished the leading three.
48/51: Leclerc reports that his tires are going flat.
47/51: Stroll retires…
47/51: Leclerc lost DRS. Norris is 2.6s behind Verstappen.
44/51: McLaren would now take 32 points, Red Bull 23. McLaren would thus take the lead in PK. If we count correctly…
43/51: Norris 8.7 s behind Verstappen.
41/51: Hamilton ahead of Bearman in 12th.
39/51: Norris has taken the fastest lap and overtakes Verstappen.
37/51: Norris in the pits. He comes back behind Verstappen, but with a 15-lap deficit. Will he make it to the finish line?
36/51: Hulkenberg before Colapinto.
34/51: Russell ahead of Verstappen.
32/51: Albon in boxes
31/51: It was close again. Leclerc remains second.
29/51: Leclecr now got very close to Piastri, but it was not enough.
27/51:
25/51: Leclerc is still holding on to Piastri within DRS range.
25/51: Verstappen complains about brakes…
24/51: Verstappen tries to get ahead of Norris, who still hasn’t built.
22/51: The spacing has narrowed even further. Three riders in 1.2 seconds.
21/51: Behind Leclerc is Pérez… Three riders in 1.5 seconds.
20/51: Piastri ahead of Leclerc!
18/51: Piastri overtook Albon. He loses 1.1 s to Leclerc.
18/51: Sainz in the pits. He returns to sixth behind Norris.
17/51: Leclerc returns to the track… between him and Piastri is Albon, who did not build. In terms of time, however, it is tight.
17/51: Tsunoda resigned.
17/51: Ferrari reacts. In the Leclerc pits. Sainz takes the lead.
16/51: Piastri is back just ahead of Pérez.
16/51: Piastri in the pits. Pérez beat Norris.
15/51: Pérez overtook Norris…
14/51: Pérez is 2 seconds behind Norris, who can be tough for him. It runs on hard tires.
14/51: Pérez in the pits. And he also fell behind Norris, who had not built yet. Verstappen has Bearman in front of him again.
13/51: Leclerc has already built up a lead of 5 seconds on Piastri.
13/51: Verstappen, Russell in the pits.
12/51: Alonso in the pits.
11/51: Colapinto in boxes.
10/51: Leclerc increased his lead to 3.4s. Hülkenberg ahead of Bearman.
8/51: Norris ahead of Bearman on points.
8/51:
7/51: Leclerc increased his lead to 1.9s. Norris overtook Bearman.
4/51: So Stroll had no contact with the wall in the first lap but with Cunoda.
4/51: Tsunoda drives slowly. Hamilton finished 15th. Piastri is again within DRS range behind Leclerc.
3/51: Norris 11. Piastri flooded under the boiler, but Leclerc can do it too and got out of reach of DRS.
2/51: Stroll had a puncture after contact with the wall…
2/51: Norris is 12th behind Cunoda
2/51: Stroll is in the pits.
2/51:
Start: Leclerc kept his pace. Pérez got third ahead of Sainz, Verstappen is fifth ahead of Russell.
13:00: Riders go for a warm-up lap.
12:57: Tires for the start:
- Hard: Albon, Ricciardo, Norris, Chou, Gasly, Ocon
- Medium: others
12:51: Starting grid:
Mr. Jezdec Team Note. 1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 5 George Russell Mercedes 6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 8 Franco Colapinto Williams 9 Alexander Albon Williams 10 Oliver Bearman Haas 11 Júki Cunoda RB 12 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 14 Daniel Ricciardo RB 15 Lando Norris McLaren 16 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber 17 Kuan-yu Chou Kick Sauber PJ 18 Pierre Gasly Alpine Violation of tech. rules box Lewis Hamilton Mercedes PJ, parc fermé box Esteban Ocon Alpine perc fermé
12:45: After today’s race, the championship may change for us. Red Bull is still in the lead, but McLaren loses only 8 points and Ferrari 39 points.
12:36: Strategy: Pirelli expects one pit stop.
12:27: Russell reports possible brake problems.
12:22: Oscar Piastri will be next to Leclerc in the first row. In the second row will be Sainz and Pérez.
12:22: Pole position was won by Charles Leclerc for the fourth time in a row, but he has never won in Baku. So far, only Red Bull and Mercedes drivers have won in Baku. The driver starting from pole position won only 2 times out of 7 races here.
12:20: Riders make their way to the starting grid.
12:14: Compared to qualifying, there were a number of changes on the starting grid. Chou deployed over-the-limit components and will start from the end of the field. Gasly was disqualified from qualifying due to a violation of technical rules – the FIA found that he had a higher fuel flow than the permitted 100 kg/h.
Ocon starts from the pits, he changed the settings. And the same goes for Hamilton, who changed his suspension settings and also fitted a new engine and will start from the pits.
12:11: Our temperatures have risen. The air is 27 °C, but the sun has warmed the track to 48 °C.
12:10: Welcome to the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix online broadcast.
