The radio message Piastri “ignored” to win Baku’s three-way fight thriller

Race engineer Tom Stallard provided Oscar Piastri with some sage advice at the start of his hard-tyre stint, based on the findings of his discarded medium-compound Pirelli tyres. Piastri, who had been stuck in Charles Leclerc’s wake among the opening quintet of tours around the streets of Baku, was about to find himself behind once again when the Ferrari driver called in a lap later than the Australian’s 15th-lap service.

“The first stint, you damaged the tyres attacking Leclerc,” Stallard informed his young charge. “Let’s be smart here.”

Let’s leave it to Piastri to pick up the story of his lap 20 overtake on the polesitting Monegasque: “It's what won me the race. I felt a bit sorry for my race engineer because I basically tried to do that in the first stint and completely cooked my tyres. So my engineer came on the radio and said, ‘Let's not do that again’, basically. And I completely ignored him the next lap and sent it down the inside.

“I think at that point, I felt like trying to stay back and wait for Charles' tyres to degrade was never going to happen. I thought it was just going to secure us P2.”

If anything, Piastri has played it down a little bit here – Stallard asked him to be considered with his overtake, and the calculations playing out within the confines of his blue and neon-yellow helmet suggested that he’d been granted a prime opportunity. The resulting pass, one that skirted the wafer-thin line between long-shot and divebomb, was certainly bold – but certainly not reckless by any measure.

Although Piastri had perhaps been guilty of being greedy with his medium tyres in the opening laps, in an effort to find a way past Leclerc, an opportunity never really presented itself. Getting close with DRS proved to be tricky, despite the Ferrari’s higher downforce level, and effectively led the McLaren driver down the garden path with little hope of mounting an assault later into the stint.

Piastri never got close enough to tease an opening on Leclerc in the first stint, but cooked his tyres in the Ferrari's wake

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

He was forced into lock-step behind Leclerc, and instead had to play the game to keep a fast-starting Sergio Perez behind. Perez, who seems to channel the spirit of all past motorsporting greats whenever he arrives in Azerbaijan, presented a rare sight among the frontrunners given the travails of his 2024 season. And, when Perez stopped at the end of lap 13, it wasn’t going to be too long before Leclerc and Piastri needed to respond to avoid being undercut.

But McLaren had a card to play in order to stall Perez’s progress. Enter Lando Norris, whose championship battle with Max Verstappen had very much taken a back seat; the hampering of the Briton’s qualifying lap by a yellow flag had consigned him to the ignominy of a Q1 exit. The bitterness of the pill was only sweetened slightly by Pierre Gasly’s disqualification from the grid order and Lewis Hamilton’s pitlane start.

Starting 15th, Norris opened his race on the hard tyre, expecting to go deep into the race and bank on enough of a delta opening further back to ease the cost of a pitstop. When Perez pitted, he inconveniently (from his point of view, at least) emerged on the road behind Norris.

"Without Lando's help, Perez could have pitted [and gone] ahead of Oscar, and the race could have unfolded in a completely different way. I think 50% of Oscar's victory is shared with Lando"
Andrea Stella

Much has been made of McLaren’s ‘Papaya Rules’ statutes of engagement. As Andrea Stella climbed down from Mount Woking, carrying two luminous orange tablets, he decreed that ‘thou shalt not cause unnecessary faff for your team-mate’ and ‘thou shalt help thy team-mate unquestioningly, lest thine data say otherwise’.

Despite the encumbrances of a title fight, Norris played ball. Engineer Will Joseph told him to do his best to back Perez up, and the Briton dutifully put his developing battle with the similarly long-stinting Alex Albon on hold to assist.

It earned Piastri just enough leeway to come out of the pits ahead of Perez. Norris was swiftly overtaken into Turn 1 at the start of lap 16 of 51, but he’d played his part – and Stella was keen to give him his flowers.

“Without Lando's help, Perez could have pitted [and gone] ahead of Oscar, and the race could have unfolded in a completely different way,” Stella reckoned afterwards. “I think 50% of Oscar's victory today is shared with Lando.”

Norris kept Perez at bay for just long enough during the pit cycle for the leaders, allowing Piastri to rejoin ahead of the Red Bull

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

His efforts ensured Piastri had 1.1 seconds in hand on exiting the pitlane – Perez quickly closing that to 0.7s to assume top billing in the MCL38’s mirrors ahead.

But here’s the thing: Piastri, after burning his medium tyres out attempting to put Leclerc under pressure in the opening laps, was 6s behind the Ferrari by the time he’d stopped. When Leclerc took his own mandatory tyre stop a lap later to trade his mediums for the hards, the gap was less than 1.5s.

Whither that missing 4.5s? It perhaps didn’t help that Leclerc’s in-lap was 0.3s slower compared to that of his rival’s effort the lap before. Then there was a half-second difference in the pitlane in Piastri’s favour, but it seemed that Piastri simply gunned it on his out-lap to make up the rest of the arrears – the 2.8s difference on their first tours on new tyres rather shows the magnitude of Piastri’s hurry to catch up.

Leclerc was at a loss to explain this, stating that his assumption was that “the undercut would be a very difficult thing to do, just because we thought that the warm-up on the hard would be extremely difficult”. He suggested that it might have been more worthwhile to pit a lap sooner – on the same lap as Piastri – to preserve the gap.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur reckoned that the team could have taken more liberties on the out-lap too, however, having expected that a more delicate approach to the tyres was needed to get them to the end.

“We lost probably a little bit in the in-lap that we can consider that would have been better to pit one lap before, but it's a different story because it was the plan to make the gap and to pit the lap after,” the Frenchman mused. “We were a bit shy on the out-lap. It's in the out-lap that we lost the most compared to Piastri. And he caught up because we were convinced that we have to do a slow introduction and to avoid to push too much in the out-laps.”

Once Piastri had cleared the interloping Albon, the Williams driver having yet to stop, he attempted to force the issue with Leclerc, who was settling in for the long haul on his new white-walled tyres. Despite Stallard’s message ringing in his ears, Piastri decided it was less productive to wait. The Ferrari had clean air, and the Melburnian did not fancy living through a repeat of Monza – nor did he fancy the prospect of Leclerc scarpering down the Neftchilar Avenue straight and leaving him susceptible to Perez’s DRS-fuelled advances.

Watch: Piastri's Perfect Performance - F1 Azerbaijan GP Race Reaction

Piastri had to push to keep up through the Old Town section of the course, weaving through the castle walls and ensuring he was close enough on the exit of Turn 16 to make his play. Once at Turn 1, he hit the brakes earlier than Leclerc and let the DRS overspeed do the work, delicately feathering the throttle on the corner exit to ensure he could come up for air ahead of the Ferrari.

From there, it was about managing the lead, indulging in a tow-breaking line on their next trip to the 2.2-kilometre (1.4-mile) straight to disrupt Leclerc’s run. The difficulty now was absorbing that pressure for the next 30 laps. Any errors, and Perez was right there to take advantage, too. The Red Bull driver attempted to put Leclerc under scrutiny, but it was hard to make any real inroads given the Ferrari was snatching DRS from Piastri.

The problem for Leclerc was that, although Piastri had managed to cannon his way past despite being three tenths behind ahead of the braking zone, his higher-downforce Ferrari could not perform a similar trick. “In all the straights they were flying,” Leclerc rued. “And that's probably where I lost the race.”

"I thought that everything was coming together and that maybe towards the end, we will be in a better place. But with the dirty air, I think 20 laps towards the end, my tyres were completely gone"
Charles Leclerc

There were a few other mechanisms at play, as Piastri got his defensive tactics right and Leclerc admitted that he perhaps didn’t fight hard enough to preserve the lead. He figured that he could sit in the McLaren’s tow, charge his batteries, and later make another attempt to recapture his position at the front of the breakaway pack.

“When Oscar overtook me into Turn 1, I was not too worried,” Leclerc reflected. “I just wanted to stay within the DRS, keep my tyres, and attempt an overtake later on. However, this opportunity never really arose again, just because we were too slow in the straights.”

That’s not to say there weren’t opportunities but, among all of the half-chances and small glimpses into Turn 1 that Leclerc was afforded, Piastri saw him coming and ducked to the inside line. Leclerc was forced to attempt to crowbar open a switchback move on the exit of Turn 1, but never found the purchase required to pull it off.

The start of the 29th lap offered one such attempt. Leclerc took a good exit out of Turn 16 and sat about 0.6s behind at the start of the long stretch to Turn 1. Yet his line was occupied by a well-placed McLaren, forcing a retreat and to recoup battery power for another attempt. Another chance came and went at the opening of lap 33, but again Piastri’s defence proved too stout to overcome.

Piastri did just enough in the middle sector to build a gap that would keep him ahead of Leclerc on the long straight

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

As Leclerc had mentioned, the draggier wing wasn’t helping. By the time he was close enough to make a move on Piastri, he’d run out of straight; he’d subsequently come into the opening corners fighting, but the car ahead was resolute. And, crucially, Leclerc couldn’t keep doing this forever.

“After 10, 15 laps, I thought that everything was coming together and that maybe towards the end, we will be in a better place,” he reflected. “But with the dirty air, I think 20 laps towards the end, my tyres were completely gone…”

Piastri was doing a lot more than simply throwing a few defensive shapes and hoping Leclerc would tire – and tyre – himself out, because his buffer was nothing without careful management of the gap through the first two sectors. Nailing the first two corners was key to ensuring that Leclerc couldn’t mount an attack into Turn 3 at the end of the second DRS zone. He also admitted to taking a few liberties in the Old Town – Icherisheher, as it’s known locally – to nullify Leclerc’s advantage through the tighter corners.

“The key was hanging on in Sector 2,” Piastri said. “Taking a lot of risk through the castle section is what I was trying to do because I needed to try and make the gap from Turn 7 through the rest of the lap.

“And I had a couple of close calls through the castle and Turn 15 as well. I think the guys probably need to put another rear corner on my car after the race! But that was where I was really trying to be fast and obviously get a good exit out of the last corner.”

In the meantime, Perez was keeping a steady hand on the tiller, letting the front pair knock lumps out of their tyres and putting himself in a position to capitalise if the opportunity arose. On occasion, he’d close to within DRS range and see if he could make their lives more difficult. On others, he’d drop back and steadily monitor their weaknesses.

As this was playing out, Carlos Sainz was closing in on the leading triumvirate. With free air, he could start to chip away at it without paying too much of a tyre toll. It seemed like a simple plan: surprise Perez when he was out of DRS, and then go after the leaders and attempt to upgrade his projected position on the podium.

With six laps remaining, Leclerc had run out of steam. His pace had long since plateaued, and the increasingly half-hearted approaches for the lead had become fewer and further between; Perez had got back into DRS range at a fortunate time, just as Leclerc had dropped out of it. Hopes of reclaiming the lead had now dwindled. Now, it was simply about defending second – or even third, as Sainz was now in the frame.

Perez's bid to pass Leclerc allowed Sainz to take advantage, moments before they tangled duelling for third

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The now-ragged hards on Leclerc’s car – his rear tyres particularly in strife at this juncture – were scarcely enough to keep Perez at bay with. Piastri had now extended his gap at the front to almost 2s by the start of the 48th tour, and this kept growing as he’d been able to use the clean air at the front to preserve his ageing rubber.

Perez got his hooks into Leclerc at the end of the next lap. Having watched Piastri ward him off time and again with the inside line into Turn 1, Leclerc chose that line to defend with and held onto the place by the skin of his teeth. The Red Bull bombed past at the braking zone, but could do little about Leclerc’s later stomp on the brakes that allowed him to hold the place.

Sainz had now arrived and slipped past Perez, following his team-mate's path through the Turn 1 exit and taking advantage of Perez having to take the wider line through the corner. Next, Sainz took a look at Leclerc – but his team-mate took the inside line for Turn 2 and this time left the second Ferrari out of position.

Piastri ranked it as “probably the best win of my career”, such was the assertiveness of his move on Leclerc and the subsequent siege that his lead was able to withstand

Perez got the better exit and tried to draw alongside, as Sainz directed his steering away from the wall. Here, Perez did not budge, resulting in contact and their respective one-way trips into the inside wall. A virtual safety car neutralised the race, cementing Piastri’s victory, Leclerc’s second place – and the ire between Sainz and Perez.

“I did my normal racing line,” Sainz asserted. “I didn't do any strange manoeuvres or anything. And for some reason that I still don't understand, we collided. I think he had plenty of space to the left; I didn't do any strange movement, but I guess that's racing.”

Perez took a different opinion, stating that Sainz had probably not realised that he was alongside: “It's just a shame, because when we exited Turn 2 there was a metre between the cars, and then within a metre or two, we ended up making contact. I understand what Carlos was trying to do to follow Charles' tow – but I was there…”

George Russell was the key beneficiary of the incident, his seemingly nailed-on run to fifth place was now upgraded to a podium position. The Mercedes driver noted that his early-stint pace on the mediums was poor, but had regrouped admirably on the hards to ensure he could recoup the position he’d lost to Verstappen at the start.

Russell took a surprising third, having looked set to finish fifth before the Perez/Sainz tangle

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Regardless, the incident did not take the shine off Piastri’s win – rather, it was already signed and sealed before Perez and Sainz jostled for the same portion of track. For all of his junior successes, Piastri ranked it as “probably the best win of my career”, such was the assertiveness of his move on Leclerc and the subsequent siege that his lead was able to withstand.

It was a day that the drivers’ title battle was overshadowed by a simply thrilling on-track affair, even if Norris ultimately took points off a distinctly off-colour Verstappen. Yet, it was a colossal step for McLaren in the constructors’ standings. Piastri’s win and Norris’s rally to fourth ensured that the team moved to the top of the teams’ table for the first time in over a decade.

McLaren would be fools to think that the constructors’ battle is over – and, indeed, Stella does not believe the car is good enough to “create boring races”. He knows that it simply takes one more Red Bull rally to reclaim its place at the zenith of the standings.

Ferrari, for its part, is also only 51 points behind – and, with Singapore coming up, the Prancing Horse has a prime opportunity to stick a hoof into the action. This 2024 contest is certainly shaping up to be something special.

McLaren now leads the constructors' standings, but Red Bull and Ferrari are close enough for the fight to retain intrigue

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images