Azerbaijan GP: Race Winner Oscar Piastri Dubs It 'The Most Stressful Afternoon'

Oscar Piastri, who started second on the grid, emerged victorious ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to put McLaren at the summit of the constructors' championship

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Updated on: 15 September 2024 11:37 pm

Oscar Piastri earned his second career win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

McLaren's Oscar Piastri labelled his victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the most stressful afternoon of his life after claiming his second career win in Formula One. (More Motorsports News)

Piastri, who started second on the grid, emerged victorious ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to put McLaren at the summit of the constructors' championship.

The Australian's team-mate, Lando Norris, managed a fourth-place finish in Baku having endured a difficult qualifying that saw him start in 17th on Sunday.

Piastri's triumph saw him move up to 222 points in the drivers' championship, and he is now 13 points behind Leclerc in third place.

The McLaren driver performed a huge lunge on the inside on lap 20 to take the lead from the Monegasque, defending admirably to secure the victory in Azerbaijan.

“I tried at the start of the race to get in front but once I dropped out of DRS I just didn’t have the pace,” said winner Piastri.

“After the stop, I saw we were pretty close again and I felt like we had a little bit of extra grip.

"I had to go for it because I knew that 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 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.”

Take a bow @OscarPiastri.#AzerbaijanGP?pic.twitter.com/doBKnPbrWO
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 15, 2024

Piastri (two) and?Norris (two) are the first pair of?drivers to get two wins in the same season for McLaren?since 2012 (Lewis Hamilton, four, and?Jenson Button, three).

The Australian's victory also continued the British-based team's record of having one or both of their drivers on the podium in each of the last 13 races.?

It equalled their?second-best run in the competition (13, which they?recorded on two other occasions, between the United States and Portugal in 1990, and Germany 2011 and China 2012).

Up next on the F1 calendar is the Singapore Grand Prix, a race that saw Norris claim second last year, with Piastri finishing down in seventh.?