Oscar Piastri wins Azerbaijan GP to give McLaren the constructors’ lead
Oscar Piastri wins while Sergio𝔍 Perez and Carlos ꦐSainz crash
Oscar Piastri brilliantly overtook Charles Leclerc to claim his second F1 v✱ictory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which ended following a dramatic collision between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc led the openi🌠ng stages from pole position and appeared to be in control until Piastri suddenly reeled the Ferrari driver in and pulled off an incredib🐠le late pass down the inside of Turn 1 on Lap 20.
The pair ran nose-to-tail and regularly duked it out for the victor🧸y, but Piastri’s impressive defence at key parts♔ of the track saw him keep Leclerc behind, denying the Monegasque - who has taken four straight poles in Baku - a first victory on the streets near the shores of the Caspian sea.
It came on a weekend ౠMcLaren publicly confirmed they would favour Lando Norris over Piastri in order to boost his championship chances, but there was no need for such tea𒊎m orders after a nightmare qualifying left Norris out of position and down in 15th.
There was drama on the penultimate lap as Sainz and Perez came to blows while battling for the final spot on the podium behind Leclerc. Perez tagged Sainz’s Ferrari on t𒁃he run to Turn 3, sending both cars into the barriers on the inside and bringing out the🃏 Virtual Safety Car.
Mercedes’ George Russell took full advantage to complete the podium in third, ahead of Lando Norris, who staged an impr༒essive recovery drive as he surged into the points and overtook main title rival Verstappen three laps from the end to reduce the Dutchman’s championship advant♉age to 59 points.
Behind a frustrated Versta♓൲ppen came Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto, who secured a double points finish for Williams.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who started from the pitlane, and fellow Briton Oliver Bearman claimed the final points on offer in n💜inth and 10th for Mercedes and Haas respectively.
McLaren have now moved 2🎀0 points clear of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
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