“Probably the most stressful afternoon of my life”: Oscar Piastri reacts to his epic win at the 2024 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri claimed that the main race on Sunday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the 'most stressful afternoon' of his life. The Aussie driver drove a brilliant race starting from P2 and pulled off a wonderful overtake on pole-sitter Charles Leclerc after the first round of pit stops.

The 23-year-old was not as competitive in the first stint as compared to the Ferrari driver and fell back to eight seconds before pitting to defend his position from Red Bull driver Sergio Perez. However, on the harder compound of tires, the McLaren driver found a second win and was able to attack the Ferrari and eventually take the race lead heading into Turn 1.

After taking his move, Oscar Piastri managed to prevent Charles Leclerc from retaking the race lead and went on to clinch the second win of his career after the Monegasque's tires wore away in the final few laps.

Piastri sounded exhausted on the team radio and said:

"That was probably the most stressful afternoon of my life," Piastri said.

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Oscar Piastri analyzes his race win in Baku

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri stated that he found extra grip on the hard tires after his pit stop and was able to attack Charles Leclerc for the race lead.

In his post-race interview with F1TV, the Aussie said:

"After the stop, it felt like we had a bit of extra grip and I had to go for it, I knew if I didn't get past at the start of the stint I was never going to get past. I went for a pretty big lunge but I managed and then hung on for dear life for the next laps," he said.

"Once he dropped out of DRS it was a little bit more relaxing but there's no relaxing lap around here. It definitely goes down as one of the better races of my career," Piastri added.

With his race win in Baku, Oscar Piastri has closed the gap to his teammate Lando Norris, as well as Charles Leclerc in the driver's standings. The Aussie is currently P4 in the championship with 222 points and trails the Monegasque by 13 points and the Brit by 32 points.

Piastri has also been the highest scorer in the past seven races of the season, scoring 135 points, including his two wins in Hungary and Baku. Courtesy of Piastri's P1 and Norris's P4, McLaren have overtaken Red Bull in the Constructors Championship to take the lead.