By Michael Madyira
A scintillating duel saw Oscar Piastri fending off Charles Leclerc in late-race chaos to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit on Sunday.
The McLaren driver beat pole-sitter Leclerc to the chequered flag in an engrossing race which saw George Russell of Mercedes coming third.
Another McLaren driver, Lando Norris, came fourth while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished fifth as he complained about the set-up changes by Red Bull.
But the day belonged to Piastri following a photo finish against Ferrari’s Leclerc.
“I tried at the start of the race to get in front but once I dropped out of DRS [range] I just didn’t have the pace,” said Piastri as per Formula 1 after the race.
“After the stop, I saw we were pretty close again and I felt like we had a little bit of extra grip and I had to go for it.”
“I knew that if I didn’t get past at the start of the stint, I was never going to get past, so I went for a pretty big lunge but managed to pull it off and then hang on for dear life for the next 35 laps.”
“The last couple of laps, once [Leclerc] dropped out of DRS, were a little bit more relaxing, but there’s no such thing as a relaxing lap around here, so it was hard work. It definitely goes down as one of the better races of my career.”
In what was a dramatic clash, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz collided as was in the penultimate lap as they battled for third spot but both never made a podium finish.
That did not bother the Piastri and Leclerc duel with the former taking the lead on lap 20 to claim what was his second-ever victory in Formula 1.
Pictured above: Oscar Piastri celebrates winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Source: Formula 1
