The 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP: Winners and Losers

The 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP saw Oscar Piastri pick up his second win of the season. The Australian pulled off a stunning overtake on Charles Leclerc who was caught off-guard by the move and then held him off throughout the second half of the race.

With a handful of laps left, it did appear that Sergio Perez was going to finish on the podium but his crash with Carlos Sainz put paid to those plans. This led to George Russell getting promoted from P5 to P3.

Lando Norris also made his way through the field to secure P4 with what was a remarkable drive from him.

As the race weekend in Baku ends and the F1 circus gets ready to move to Singapore, who would be happy with how the race panned out, and who would be disappointed? Let's take a look.

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The 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP

Winner

Oscar Piastri

Lest we forget, this was a race weekend where Oscar Piastri was told that he would play the supporting part for his teammate Lando Norris should there be a need. The best part about this race win was that Oscar did it in a car that arguably was not the fastest one.

Most importantly, it was all set up by an incredible 'balls to the walls' overtake where Oscar sent it down the inside and caught Leclerc off-guard.

The first win in Hungary lost a bit of sheen because of how everything was handled, but the race in Baku just proved how elite Oscar Piastri truly is.

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Loser

Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari lost the F1 Azerbaijan GP on the track because they got complacent. They had a huge lead in the first stint, and when Oscar Piastri pitted for fresh tires, Ferrari left it too late, and Leclerc came out within striking distance of the McLaren driver.

While this bit was on McLaren, the fact that Leclerc left the door open for Piastri to go through is entirely on him and that's what cost him the win. The F1 Azerbaijan GP should have been a race where Charles Leclerc dominated from start to finish, and the fact that he didn't is not going to sit well with him.

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Winner

George Russell

In terms of luck, George Russell has had a few short ends of the stick this season. The power unit issues in Silverstone hurt his charge towards the win. The disqualification in Spa just hurt a lot, especially after the kind of drive he had put together.

A podium at the F1 Azerbaijan GP obviously doesn't make everything better, but at least this is a small win for the Mercedes driver, who has not had many this season.

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Loser

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen doesn't have poor weekends. He just doesn't. The fact that he's had one now at the F1 Azerbaijan GP when there was the golden opportunity to actually increase the lead on Lando Norris will hurt.

Max was also outperformed by Sergio Perez at the F1 Azerbaijan GP, and sure it happens once a year, it still did, which will be disappointing for him.

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Winner

The rookies

The rookies brought a smile to the faces of many when Ollie Bearman and Franco Colapinto took it to their respective experienced teammates at the F1 Azerbaijan GP race weekend. While both Albon and Hulkenberg did finally get the better of them in the races (Hulk damaged his front wing after he ran over something late in the race), the fact that they could be challenged was impressive enough.

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Loser

Lando Norris

Sure, the qualifying was not his fault. And it's hard to argue that a P4 result after starting in P17 could be considered anything but a dream come true, but the reality is that Lando should have been fighting for the win at the front.

He lost it through no fault of his own for sure, but that's not going to change the fact that a strong weekend went begging for the McLaren driver.