It takes a lot to raise Oscar Piastri’s heart rate, but the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was quickening the unflappable Melburnian’s pulse.
It was lap 20 of 51, and Piastri was staring at the rear wing of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari after the first pit stops had failed to dislodge him from the lead. The Monegasque had taken his fourth successive pole in Baku, but for the first time his Ferrari was lapping quickly enough for him to win the race
Piastri had won only one grand prix when he arrived in Azerbaijan. It was only the second season of his career, and this was his 39th start. A solid second place — his eighth podium trophy — seemed certain.
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Then Piastri hit the brakes into turn 1.
Suddenly he was alongside the Ferrari.
Then he was in the lead.
In a single breathtakingly audacious jab of the brakes, Piastri had summed up everything that makes him a title-calibre grand prix driver: calm, judicious and absolutely ruthless.
But that was the easy part.
The hard part was that there were still 31 laps remaining of the perilous 6.003-kilometre circuit before the chequered flag would fly.
“Getting into the lead was going to be, let’s say, 40 per cent of the job, but I knew that hanging on to it was going to be 60 per cent,” he said. “Just trying to keep Charles behind was incredibly stressful. I couldn’t make a single mistake.”
Leclerc was up for the challenge.
There’s something about the Baku circuit’s layout that just suits the Monegasque. His driving style has a way of taming a skittish low-downforce car around the track’s slow corners such that he’s practically unrivalled over a single lap.
But despite taking pole four times in a row, on none of the three previous occasions — and not even in the 2023 Baku sprint, which he also started from pole — had he won the race.
In 2024, however, Ferrari had finally delivered him a genuinely fast car capable of victory.
But after controlling the race from pole, he was now forced to stare at the gearbox of Piastri’s slower McLaren.
The pressure he applied was immense, pushing himself and his Australian adversary to their limits.
One of the season’s most iconic television images came late in the race, when cameras captured both drivers drifting, barely in control, out of turn 16 and onto the long front straight, Leclerc determined to get a run on the leader but Piastri resolute that he wouldn’t be slipstreamed into the first turn.
The struggle was monumental. The stakes were considerable.
On lap 46 the battle was decided. Leclerc tyres, exhausted from the exertion, cried enough. Piastri finally broke free of DRS range and piled on a full second on the following lap to break the Monegasque’s will.
Victory — a gritty, determined victory — was his.
“That was the most stressful afternoon of my life,” the Australian said, though he sounded barely flustered.
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‘PHENOMENAL DRIVER, BRILLIANT DRIVE’
Piastri’s maiden victory was still fresh in the memory, having come less than two months earlier at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Rare is a sequel better than the original, but there was no doubt in the then two-time winner’s mind which was the better result.
“There’s a decent sense of relief that comes with the first win,” he said. “But Baku was a lot more satisfying.
“It’s just because of how difficult it was. In Budapest I did a lot of the hard work at turn 1 and then controlled the race from there, whereas Baku was not controlled in the slightest.
“It was probably the hardest race I’ve ever had in my life from a pressure point of view. It was definitely the most satisfying win in my career.
“We all know the first one is special, but for me the win in Baku definitely is a step higher.”
The emotions were felt equally intensely on the pit wall.
The team had told Piastri to gently bring in his second set of tyres, having seen his first set wilt after challenging Leclerc early.
The Australian thought otherwise, sensing he had a chance to win the race — though it would require the mother of all lunges to get past Leclerc.
Team principal Andrea Stella assumed he wouldn’t be able to pull it off.
“When I watched it live and I saw him going, my instinct said he’s going to go long because of the delay in the braking point,” he said.
“He came from quite far and still he negotiated the apex. So yeah, I was surprised.”
Then again, Piastri had made a habit of defying expectations in his two formative seasons in Formula 1.
“I was surprised, but Oscar is always surprising us with his talent and ability,” Stella continued. “Today he gave also a demonstration of his mental strength.
“He drove like a driver that has a lot of experience and has been under this kind of pressure before, who can look with one eye on the mirror and one on the braking, and he did it with great precision and pretty controlled.
“Phenomenal driver, brilliant drive.”
A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME
In retrospect the Azerbaijan Grand Prix doesn’t tell us much that isn’t already clear about Piastri capacity to driver a racing car, but it’s worth casting your mind back to the context of last season.
Though Piastri’s second full-time campaign in Formula 1 saw his upward trajectory continue from 2023, clear gaps in his game left him lagging the more experienced Norris for much of the season.
The clearest was in qualifying. After an inconsistent battle with Norris in their first season as teammates, during which time the McLaren car went from backmarker to front-row contender, the Briton took a decisive upper hand last year.
Piastri’s 2024 qualifying record
Qualifying result: 5.4 average
Qualifying head to head: Norris led 4-20
Qualifying differential: Norris ahead 1.9 places
Time differential: Norris faster by 0.223 seconds
Their qualifying head-to-head gap was the biggest equal second biggest in the sport last season.
But the step back on Saturday obscured his improvements on Sunday.
In his rookie campaign his weakness was race management — unsurprising given Formula 1’s bespoke Pirelli tyres define so much of the challenge of executing on Sunday.
Last year, however, after much off-season analysis he managed to bring up the floor of his grand prix performances to the point he was, on average, a close match on race day.
Piastri’s 2024 race record
Race result: 5.1 average
Race head to head: Norris led 8-16
Race differential: Norris ahead 0.8 places
Points: Norris led by 82 points (292-374)
But it was only on weekends when he qualified well — like Azerbaijan, where he started on the front row — he could fully flex those gains.
Last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix also capped off an 11-round run — through the European leg of the season, including Canada — in which he was the sport’s highest scoring driver.
Points scored between rounds 7 (Emilia-Romagna) and 17 (Azerbaijan)
1. Oscar Piastri: 181 points
2. Max Verstappen: 177 points
3. Lando Norris: 171 points
This lucrative run through the middle of the season comprised tracks at which Piastri had experience from the junior series. His knowledge bank was deeper and more detailed, which helped to accelerate his Formula 1 growth.
It was the races on either end of this run — outside of Europe — that were the foundation of his deficits to his teammate.
But those races have also been key indicators of Piastri’s progress this season.
Chaos as Norris forced off by Verstappen | 00:28
NO DEFICITS REMAIN
Consider some of his weakest 2024 races: Japan, China and Spain. He was outqualified at all events — in Barcelona the margin was more than 0.6 seconds — and was beaten in the races by an average of 4.6 places.
These are tracks that punish the tyres and reward experience. It’s notable that Spain is also a European track at which Piastri had raced previously.
But now consider these races this year.
Japan: Piastri qualified 0.032 seconds behind Norris and was arguably quicker in the race, but both McLaren were bottled behind eventual winner Max Verstappen.
China: Piastri won from pole.
Spain: Piastri won from pole.
Those improvements are indicative of his season overall.
In qualifying he’s leading Norris on every important metric in a marked turnaround on his 2024 form.
Piastri’s 2025 qualifying record, rounds 1 to 16
Qualifying result: 2.1 average
Qualifying head to head: Piastri leads 9-7
Qualifying differential: Piastri ahead 1.0 places
Time differential: Piastri faster 0.042 seconds
He’s also pulled level in race trim. There’s been little to pick between him and Norris this year, but the Australian falls on the right side of almost every tiny margin.
Piastri’s 2025 race record, rounds 1 to 16
Race result: 2.4 average
Race head to head: Norris leads 7-8
Race differential: Piastri ahead 0.5 places
Points: Piastri leads by 31 points (324-293)
Among those performances have been some lofty Piastri high points.
There was his pure race pace in China to bounce back emphatically from his Australia heartbreak, beating the out-of-sorts Norris to the chequered flag by 10 seconds.
There was his ruthlessness in Saudi Arabia to force Verstappen into an error at the first chicane that ensured he won the race.
There was his decisiveness in battle, again against Verstappen, in Miami to escape far up the road before Norris could follow him.
His control of the Spanish Grand Prix. His would-be obliteration of the field in the wet in Silverstone. His perfect management in Belgium. His qualifying clincher in the Netherlands.
Calm, judicious and absolutely ruthless: this season has been the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix writ large. Every celebrated facet of his title-leading 2025 efforts was on display in Baku last year.
The only difference — and the most remarkable thing — is that he’s accessing that level of performance every week in only his third season in the sport.
This is a version of Piastri most knew was coming but few predicted would arrive so soon.
And if he’s already performing at such a high level now, with fewer than 100 entries under his belt, how much high can he go?
Piastri forced to give second place up | 01:18
THE PATH FROM HERE IS CLEAR
This year Piastri arrives in Azerbaijan with any semblance of greenness long since eliminated.
He’s a nine-time grand prix winner, the equal third most successful in Australian history.
Baku will be his 63rd career start, and he’s on a remarkable streak of 42 successive scoring weekends.
He leads the championship by 31 points.
Piastri will start this weekend as favourite to extend that margin by at least seven points. His form at this circuit in 2024 ensures it.
“I regard that as one of my favourite races ever, and it’s always an advantage coming back to a track where you’ve had a big result,” he said ahead of the weekend.
Beyond Azerbaijan, however, lie circuits that have historically proved more challenging for the Australian.
Last year Norris had a clear upper hand in Singapore, the United States and Mexico City. They were more closely matched in Brazil, Las Vegas and Qatar. The final round in Abu Dhabi has historically been stronger for Norris.
Piastri has already proved he has nothing to fear at circuits that have been weak for him in the past, but as the championship pressure mounts and as Norris perhaps finds another level in light of his extended deficit, nothing can be taken for granted.
It’s a mighty test for a driver in only his third season, but Piastri is operating like a driver with twice the experience such that it’s hard to believe he won his first grand prix only 14 months ago.
Six more wins would see him blast past Jack Brabham as the Australian driver with the most victories.
Seven more weekends in the points would see him complete the most consistent scoring run in Formula 1 history.
More importantly, two more victories would establish a lead big enough to put him on the cusp of taking the championship out of Norris’s hands.
Piastri’s success was glimpsed last year in Azerbaijan. It would be hard to beat the thrill of that performance, but victory in Baku 12 months on could be even more meaningful in the story of the Aussie young gun’s career.
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