dpa
Berlin
Oscar Piastri of McLaren fended off attacks by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to claim the second Formula One victory of his career at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday.
Leclerc started from pole position and retained his first place in a clean start. But after the first round of pitstops, Piastri overtook the Ferrari driver on lap 20.
Leclerc stayed close to the McLaren, and got close to overtaking Piastri several times throughout the race, but the Australian defended well and held on to the lead.
Piastri had earlier this season claimed his maiden F1 win at the Hungarian GP in July.
“That was probably the most stressful afternoon of my life,” Piastri said over the team radio.
“After the stop, I felt like I had extra grip and I had to go for it as if I didn’t get past at the start of the stint I never would. I went for a pretty big lunge then clung on for 35 laps. Goes down as one of my better races of my career.” Dramatic final laps Leclerc had to settle for second as he failed to convert pole position in Baku to a win for a fourth consecutive time.
“In the straights I couldn’t get as close as I wanted, and we lost the race when I didn’t quite defend as well as I could have but it is how it is, sometimes you do mistakes and I will learn from it,” he said.
The Monegasque, who won Ferrari’s home Italian GP at Monza some two weeks ago, was lucky to even be on the podium as he would probably have been overtaken by the Red Bull of Sergio Perez and team-mate Carlos Sainz had they not crashed in the second last lap.
Perez made a move on Leclerc for second and briefly got ahead, but made a mistake on the exit, which allowed both Leclerc and Sainz through.
With Sainz ahead, Perez tried to get back on the inside, but while it looked like he moved left, Sainz moved right and the two crashed and went into the wall.
Perez was looking to stand on the podium for the first time since the Chinese GP in April.
“A great shame for Carlos, I hope everyone is OK and not a great day for the team,” Leclerc said.
Lucky Russell again Meanwhile, George Russell in the Mercedes benefited from the incident and completed the podium in third.
“Definitely surprised, but glad to see Checo and Carlos were OK. On the hard tyre we were one of the quickest out there, got past Max and an added bonus to get the podium,” Russell said.
Earlier this season, Russell took advantage of another incident to claim a surprise win at the Austrian GP after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris dramatically collided in a battle for the lead.
Three-time defending champion Verstappen was fifth in the Red Bull after being overtaken by McLaren’s title challenger Norris in the final laps.
Norris had started the race in 15th after a dreadful qualifying session but recovered to finish in fourth thanks to the collision between Perez and Sainz.
While Verstappen still tops the drivers’ championship, he had his lead over Norris cut by three points to 59 and his winless run was extended to seven races.
Best of the rest Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was sixth, followed by the Williams of Alex Albon and Griffin Colapinto, who claimed his first F1 points after replacing Logan Sargeant ahead of the Italian GP.
F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Results: 1. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 51 laps, 1:32:58.007; 2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +10.910 seconds; 3. George Russell, Mercedes +31.328; 4. Lando Norris, McLaren +36.143; 5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing +1:17.098.
Driver Standings: 1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 313 points; 2. Lando Norris, McLaren, 254; 3. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 235; 4. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 222; 5. Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari, 184.
