The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was in fact won by McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

Second is Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, third is Mercedes' George Russell.

While promotion is assured for the teams of the three winners, the negative judgment for Red Bull is equally certain, now forced to hope that the championship ends soon and without further damage.

Due to their defeats, the “invincibles” of the Austrian-British team have now slipped to second place in the constructors’ world rankings.

The news of the day confirms that Ferrari is back to being ambitious, and the only one that worries it is McLaren, superior to the reds from Maranello only in a direct comparison.

And so it was also in Baku, during the 51 regulation laps of the Azerbaijani circuit.

Leclerc, who started from pole position, was only overtaken on lap 20 by Piastri's McLaren, but then maintained second position until the finish line.

Behind him, teammate Carlos Sainz dueled with Red Bull's Sergio Perez for third place, until their cars made contact with just a few hundred metres to go, forcing both drivers to retire.

The one who benefited from this was Mercedes' George Russell, who will take over as the German Silver Arrows' first driver from 2025, alongside XNUMX-year-old Kimi Antonelli from Bologna.

In Baku, McLaren's technical supremacy was also confirmed by the performance of Lando Norris who, starting seventeenth, recovered 13 positions, even overtaking Max Verstappen, who resigned himself to saving what could be saved.

Noteworthy is the tenth position of Oliver Bearman, a very young British driver from the Ferrari youth system, who replaced Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia last March and instead earned points in Baku as an official Haas driver.

Let's let the lap times complete the story: behind Piastri's McLaren, about 10 seconds behind, we find Leclerc's second place.

The gaps then become more significant: Russell is third with a gap of around 30 seconds, followed in fourth place with 36 seconds by Lando Norris.

Fifth and sixth place are occupied respectively by Verstappen, with a gap of 77 seconds, and Fernando Alonso, 85 seconds behind.

Notice: these are values ​​that now exceed one minute.

In the world drivers' standings, Verstappen still holds the lead with 313 points, followed by McLaren's Norris with 254, Leclerc with 235 and Piastri fourth with 222 points.

There was a dramatic turn of events in the world constructors' rankings.

McLaren now tops the standings with 476 points, followed by Red Bull with 456 and Ferrari with 425 points.

There are still six races left to conclude the 2024 season.

The next one will be held in a week at Marina Bay , for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Images: © F1 & team media