'Piastri is McLaren's best driver' - GPFans' Azerbaijan Grand Prix hot takes

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix well and truly delivered as the 2024 championship battle took yet another twist.

Oscar Piastri claimed the victory, with Charles Leclerc holding on to second place at the end, as his team-mate Carlos Sainz suffered a race-ending crash with Sergio Perez on the penultimate lap of the race.

F1 RESULTS: Dramatic race ends with HUGE crash as championship lead changes

Championship protagonists Lando Norris and Max Verstappen finished fourth and fifth respectively, with Norris getting the better of the three-time world champion despite starting the race down in 15th.

Perez's point-less weekend and Verstappen's struggles mean we have a new leader in the constructors' championship, with McLaren now favorites to claim their first constructors' title since 1998.

After a thrilling afternoon, here is what the GPFans team made of the race.

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GPFans' Azerbaijan Grand Prix hot takes

Sam Cook - F1 Journalist

This race proved why Sergio Perez will be replaced by Red Bull before the end of the season.

Red Bull have been adamant all season that his performances will turn around with some of his favoured tracks to come between now and the end of the season, including Baku, a track where the Mexican is a two-time winner.

Yet, Perez comes away from Baku with zero points in 2024, the final nail in the coffin for Red Bull’s constructors’ championship lead.

Sure, Perez’s performance was on the whole pretty good, challenging for the race victory all the way through the race and outclassing team-mate Verstappen as he did in 2023 around the same circuit.

However, he still comes away with zero points in an another dismal result following a penultimate lap smash with Carlos Sainz.

I don’t think his Red Bull career will last much longer than his home race in Mexico.

Chris Deeley - US Editor

We so, so nearly got through an Azerbaijan Grand Prix without some kind of safety car, didn’t we? Then Sergio Perez happened. 49 laps of street track brilliance, then one moment of madness as he felt a podium slipping away from him.

Losing a nice point-scoring finish and letting McLaren take a 20-point lead in the constructors’ title? Bad. Potential penalty points coming up? Bad. Likely consequences from inside Red Bull? Don’t be ridiculous. The man’s bulletproof (and this constructors’ title was McLaren’s to lose anyway). The crash, bizarrely…probably doesn’t matter at all?

Speaking of McLaren, it’s looking more and more like the media circus about Lando Norris’ status as lead driver is going to seem asinine as soon as next season. Oscar Piastri is this team’s best driver. This might’ve been the drive of the season. The Brit gets the nudge from the team this year because of the points situation, but Piastri is this team’s future. Norris might have to start looking around for a number-one seat elsewhere before he hits his late-20s prime.

Kevin McKenna - F1 Journalist

It may have taken a while to get going, but boy did Baku deliver in the end.

A quite phenomenal performance from Oscar Piastri proved – as if we didn’t know already – that he is the real deal. It was a defensive masterclass from the Aussie to hold off pole-sitter Charles Leclerc and seal his second win of the season.

The McLaren star is very much the form man on the grid, having scored the most points over the past seven races.

Unfortunately, he won’t be in the hunt for a drivers’ title this time around, but he will be a force to be reckoned with going into 2025.

Elsewhere, it was a brilliant day for rookies Franco Colapinto and Ollie Bearman, who both finished in the points following the dramatic late collision which put Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz out of the race.

Piastri, Colapinto, Bearman. Who needs years of experience when you have this much talent?

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Amongst the chaos of the closing stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, one star was overlooked in Baku - Franco Colapinto.

The Argentinian star has achieved exactly what Williams expected of him, recovering from a crash in FP3 to qualify ahead of Alex Albon on Saturday.

Colapinto achieving his first points finish is no mean feat, and given the work of his predecessor they ought to be lauded.

Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, threw away a result crucial for Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, and his crash with Sergio Perez served a major blow to the team when they could have claimed a double podium.

The Spaniard will of course move to Williams next season, leaving Colapinto without a seat, unless the likes of Audi or RB snap him up for next year.

However, after Sainz’s showing in Baku, Williams should consider retaining Colapinto, who is already displaying great talent and maturity despite his inexperience in F1.

Jay Winter - F1 Journalist

Despite Norris' lucky recovery - He still bottled the drivers' championship this weekend.

The yellow/white flag confusion during qualifying is no excuse. He should've had a banker lap in Q1 to avoid it.

Piastri, despite being nearly two years younger, already feels a lot more mature than Norris and will 100% claim a world championship title before him.

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