Formula One - Round 17 - Azerbaijan Weekend Report

Round 17 of the FIA Formula One World Championship took us to the much loved streets of Baku, Azerbaijan in a race that had it all. - A mighty comeback, fighting at the front, first time points and inevitable crashes.

BREAKING NEWS

Before the race weekend began the news that we had all been waiting on was finally announced. Aston Martin confirmed that Adrian Newey would be joining the team in an advisory role from the beginning of the 2025 season onwards. This is a continuation of the Red Bull exodus with major staff such as Jonathan Wheatley also leaving the team at the end of the season.

FREE PRACTICE SESSIONS

The first practice session and Baku saw the most action with Esteban Ocon suffering an engine failure at the beginning of the session that spelt the end of his FP1. Around the halfway point of FP1 Charles Leclerc crashed at turn 15, breaking his front wing and front right suspension parts which ended his FP1 session earlier than anticipated. With just nineteen minutes left to run Franco Colapinto became the latest victim to the close walls around the Baku City Circuit as he crashed into turn four and broke the left front and rear suspension.

Photo: Scuderia Ferrari

QUALIFYING

In the first qualifying session at Baku, Sergio Perez took an early lead in the Red Bull to continue what had been a redemption weekend for his Red Bull career. Charles Leclerc soon rose to the top of the timing board in Q1 with less than ten minutes to go in a continuation of his qualifying dominance at this track since 2020. On the final runs Esteban Ocon tapped the wall coming out of turn four which caused his rear left tire to fail, causing yellow flags around the circuit as he limped back to the pitlane. Max Verstappen narrowly avoided being caught in a yellow flag and safely got into Q2 on his final lap. Lando Norris was not so lucky and got caught out by the slow-moving Ocon. Norris’s lap was likely already over due to a slide over the kerbs coming out of turn sixteen, but the yellow flag was the final nail in the coffin, as Norris returned to the pits in P17 and not advancing to Q1. Colapinto in only his second qualifying session was safely through to Q2 along with his Williams team mate Alex Albon.

Out in Q1: Ricciardo, Norris, Bottas, Zhou, Ocon​

Verstappen led all the way in Q2 in what was a promising sign for the Red Bull team after their recent struggles. The session ran without issue in comparison to Q1, and all eyes fell to the Williams team. They had shown impressive pace all weekend and come the end of Q2 both Colapinto and Albon were through to Q3 in P6 and P10 respectively in yet another positive session for the new Williams driver.

Out in Q2: Bearman, Tsunoda, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Stroll

Verstappen had a difficult start to the final qualifying session as he had a moment of  oversteer on his first lap. The first runs in Q3 came in without issue but as the teams had a quick turn-around for the second runs, the Williams team made a vital mistake. Alex Albon had left the pitlane for his final run with the airbox fan unit still attached to the top of his car. Albon pulled over on the pitlane exit and removed the fan unit himself before throwing it to the marshals. Failure for the marshalls to retrieve the fan unit means Albon would not be able to continue. Unfortunately for Albon the process of removing the fan unit left him with too little time to start a lap and he crossed the line after the checkered flag had been waved. Leclerc continued his dominance around the Baku City Circuit as he qualified on pole for the fourth successive occasion with a time of 1:41.365. Behind him Perez continued his upturn of form as he out-qualified his team mate for the first time in 2024.

Top 10: Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Colapinto, Albon

RACE

Before the race began, news of grid penalties came in for Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon. Both cars would be required to start from the pitlane, due to Hamilton taking a new power unit and changing the suspension geometry, whereas Ocon had taken some new power unit elements.

Come the start of the race the field was pretty evenly split on strategy. Everyone was expecting a one-stop race but whether the medium or the hard was the better tire for the first stint was an unknown factor. As the lights went out Leclerc held his lead into turn one as Perez made a move on the inside to move up to P3. Verstappen followed his teammate and came out of turn one in P5. Both Williams cars held their starting positions on lap one with Colapinto in eighth and Albon in ninth. Lap one also saw Lance Stroll making contact with Yuki Tsunoda at turn four, this contact gave Stroll a puncture that he was forced to pit for at the end of lap one and gave Tsunoda considerable sidepod damage.

By the end of lap two, Lando Norris made his intentions for the race clear as he moved up to P11, meaning he had gained five places in just two laps. Leclerc continued out front but was still under threat from Piastri who was consistently within DRS range. As lap four began the consequences of Tsunoda’s contact with Stroll began to appear, forcing Tsunoda to drop down the grid and run significantly slower lap times than those around him. The damage later led to Tsunoda retiring from the race.

On lap eight Norris broke into the top ten as he overtook the Haas of Ollie Bearman, who was having an impressive first outing with the team that he will be driving for in 2025.

Photo: McLaren F1

The first car into the pitlane was the Williams of Colapinto on lap eleven as he moved from the medium tire to the hard tire for the last forty laps of the Grand Prix. Norris played a crucial part in the pit strategy for McLaren as he held up the Red Bull of Sergio Perez through sector two which allowed his teammate Oscar Piastri to leave the pits ahead of Perez and, crucially, on fresher tires. On lap twenty Oscar Piastri finally made his move into turn one and took the lead from the pole position Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Verstappen began to complain about the car, specifying that he was struggling with the rear axle losing grip and ‘hopping’. This eventually led to Verstappen being overtaken by the Mercedes of George Russell on lap thirty-four. On lap thirty-eight Norris came into the pitlane for his switch onto medium tires, abandoning the hard compound that he had been running since the beginning of the race. He came out in P7 and began to chase Max Verstappen. 

With just three laps to go Lando Norris finally overtook Max Verstappen for seventh after he had closed a gap of more than thirteen seconds in just eleven laps. As the leaders started the penultimate lap, Sainz made a move on Perez for the third and final position on the podium. Perez managed to get alongside the Ferrari into turn two and they were side by side out of the corner on the run to turn three. Sainz had naturally set his car up pointing to the left-hand side of the track to follow his teammate. Perez also kept his steering wheel straight to try and keep the slipstream from Leclerc ahead. With the two drivers keeping their steering straight inevitably led to contact and both drivers crashed out of the race on the run to turn three which promoted the Mercedes of George Russell to third.

As the checkered flag fell, Oscar Piastri crossed the line to win his second ever Grand Prix and his first around the streets of Baku. Leclerc took the second step on the podium followed by the Mercedes of George Russell. Williams came away with their best race weekend in recent memory with Colapinto finishing in seventh and Albon finishing eighth. Bearman impressed for his first race with Haas outfit, coming across the line in tenth to become the first driver to score points for two different teams in his first two races.

CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT CONTINUES

The outcome of this race sees Lando Norris take a small step towards Max Verstappen in the World Drivers Championship. The victory for McLaren elevates the team to the top of the World Constructors Championship as they took thirty-eight points from this race weekend.

NIGHT RACING IN SINGAPORE

This weekend we go to another street circuit in the form of the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore. The last few years have seen Red Bull struggle through the race weekend and fall significantly off the pace. The history at Singapore gives a bleak outlook for Max Verstappen. Not only has the Dutchman never won on the streets of Marina Bay, he hasn’t stood on the podium since 2019. For McLaren the history is far more promising with title hopeful Lando Norris finishing second here last year, this is a massive opportunity for McLaren to open a lead in the WCC and for Lando Norris to take another chunk out of the lead that Verstappen currently holds in the WDC.