McLaren Reign Supreme in Baku and Singapore
Image: McLaren F1
It was a spectacular display from Oscar Piastri to claim his second victory in Baku and from Lando Norris in Singapore as the Brit claimed his third career victory ahead of Max Verstappen. Drivers including Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg also put in great performances to claim points in slow cars. Let’s have a look at the key takeaways from these two amazing race weekends.
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc set the pace in Q1, with a fastest lap time of 1:42.775 - The session saw a surprising turn of events as McLaren’s title contender Lando Norris, who had been expected to perform well, faced an unexpected elimination. The Brit ran wide at Turn 16, which caused him to encounter a yellow flag situation, forcing him to lift off the throttle. This incident resulted in him finishing 17th, thus failing to advance to the next session.
Most drivers opted for the soft tyre except for Mercedes, with previous Azerbaijan Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez setting the pace early doors. Williams newbie Franco Colapinto surprised by splitting both Ferrari drivers, while both Kick Saubers, both Alpines, and Daniel Ricciardo’s RB struggled. As track conditions improved, drivers could push harder, with Colapinto brushing the wall, Oliver Bearman regaining confidence after his FP3 crash, and Carlos Sainz taking to an escape road.
Out in Q1 were:
16th - Daniel RICCIARDO
17th - Lando NORRIS
18th - Valtteri BOTTAS
19th - ZHOU Guanyu
20th - Esteban OCON
Verstappen and Perez secured a provisional Red Bull one-two, with Verstappen setting a 1:42.042, followed by Piastri, Russell, Bearman, and Sainz. Albon, Hamilton, Leclerc, and Hulkenberg held the final top 10 spots, leaving Colapinto, Alonso, Gasly, Tsunoda, and Stroll needing improvements. Ferrari’s out-of-sync run plans allowed Leclerc to go second and Sainz fourth, while Perez watched from the garage. No further improvements occurred at the sharp end, with Verstappen staying P1, followed by Leclerc, Perez, Russell, Alonso, and an inspired Colapinto. Sainz, Piastri, Hamilton, and Albon also advancing.
Missing out on Q3:
11th - Oliver BEARMAN
12th - Yuki TSUNODA
13th - Pierre GASLY
14th - Nico HULKENBERG
15th - Lance STROLL
Image: Formula One
Here’s Saturday’s pole sitter, with some bloke we’ve never heard of.
In the shootout for pole position, Leclerc set the pace with a rapid lap, ahead of teammate Sainz and Piastri. Hamilton struggled with tyre temperatures, while Albon, Colapinto, and Alonso completed the provisional Q3 order. Drama ensued when Albon was released with an airbox fan still attached, forcing him to stop and remove it, with the dry ice sat in a nice pile next to the Thai driver’s head!
Leclerc improved to a time of 1:41.365, securing pole, with Piastri second despite a wobble, and Sainz third. Hamilton and Alonso finished P7 and P8, Colapinto was a fantastically impressive ninth, and Albon claimed 10th after fan-related delays.
‘Papaya Rules’ be damned
Image: McLaren F1
Cool as a cucumber, not overly elaborate in interviews and fast as hell - exactly what comes to mind when you think of the legendary Finn, Kimi Raikkonen. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is beginning to form a reputation amongst fans of being the sport’s next ‘Iceman’, with a permanently calm demeanour and never losing his patience, even in the face of questionable strategic choices made by the Woking team this year.
The young Aussie expressed his delight and relief after securing his second career victory, where he was closely pursued by Ferrari man Charles Leclerc for much of the race. Leclerc initially led, but Piastri overhauled him after the pit stops and managed to hold onto his position despite intense pressure. A late-race crash involving Perez and Sainz brought out the Virtual Safety Car, securing Piastri’s P1 finish.
The Bull and Prancing Horse come to blows
Image: Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari had a somewhat troublesome weekend, with Charles Leclerc claiming pole and, on Sunday, leading initially, but losing the lead to Oscar Piastri after a pit stop due to tyre warm-up issues. Charles struggled to regain the lead and faced heavy tyre degradation, but managed to finish second after the collision between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz in the final laps. Sainz, who was running in fourth, crashed out in the incident, ending his race in disappointment. Team Principal Fred Vasseur acknowledged strategic errors and tyre management issues but remained optimistic about the team's competitiveness and focus on future races.
“We leave Baku with a result below expectations but it was good to see that as in Monza we were fighting with McLaren and we were competitive. We need to keep the focus and continue to fight as there are many more races to go.”
In terms of how the incident between Perez and Sainz occurred, as Leclerc tried to prevent Perez from getting a tow, Perez went wide into Turn 2, allowing Sainz to pass him. However, Sainz lost traction, and Perez got back alongside, with both driving in straight, yet slowly converging, lines, thus leading to rubber meeting rubber and a swipe to the left-hand side of the track, right into the barrier.
Both drivers were uninjured, but the race ended under a VSC, promoting George Russell to P3 while Piastri secured the top podium spot.
Perfect in papaya
Image: McLaren F1
It was a dominant drive from Norris with a winning margin of 20.945 seconds, the largest of the 2024 season so far. Crucially finishing ahead of his championship rival, Verstappen, the Brit closed the gap in the drivers championship to just 52 points.
Lando Norris on his third F1 win:
“A win is a win. Yes, maybe it (the dominance) puts a slightly bigger smile on (my) face but the main job is getting the win.”
With six rounds remaining, Norris most definitely will be wanting as many wins as possible, as long as he’s on the podium for most races and finishes ahead of Verstappen often, he’ll win the championship.
The same can be said for the constructors championship where McLaren is now 41 points clear of Red Bull, who clearly need to make up some ground considering Sergio Perez’s poor form.
This win was also McLaren’s first victory under the lights of Marina Bay since 2009, where Lewis Hamilton emerged victorious. Whether McLaren can claim its first victory in Texas in three weeks since 2012 will have to be seen.
An eye-watering farewell
Image: Formula One
This race has now been confirmed as Daniel Ricciardo’s final race in Formula One. Many speculated at the end of the race whether VCARB would replace the Aussie with Liam Lawson for the remainder of the season and a few days later, we received official confirmation of the driver change.
Whilst this may be a rather depressing way to end such a brilliant career for Ricciardo, it was clear his time was up. Following his comeback in 2023 after the removal of Nyck de Vries, Ricciardo only lasted two races until he suffered a wrist injury at Zandvoort, which caused him to miss a few races, where Lawson filled in for him.
Ricciardo’s 2024 campaign has been utterly dreadful with a handful of points and not many great performances due to the poorly developed VCARB car. It’s safe to say that his golden days were at the Red Bull outfit from 2014 to 2018, where he claimed seven wins, beating drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
Whilst it pains us to say goodbye to such a huge personality on the grid, we’re sure he’ll enjoy his retirement as much as he enjoyed a shoey on the podium.
Thank you, Daniel.
Final Race Classification (Baku)
1 - Oscar PIASTRI
2 - Charles LECLERC
3 - George RUSSELL
4 - Lando NORRIS
5 - Max VERSTAPPEN
6 - Fernando ALONSO
7 - Alexander ALBON
8 - Franco COLAPINTO
9 - Lewis HAMILTON
10 - Oliver BEARMAN
11 - Nico HULKENBERG
12 - Pierre GASLY
13 - Daniel RICCIARDO
14 - ZHOU Guanyu
15 - Esteban OCON
16 - Valtteri BOTTAS
DNF - Sergio PEREZ
DNF - Carlos SAINZ
DNF - Lance STROLL
DNF - Yuki TSUNODA
Final Race Classification (Singapore)
1 - Lando NORRIS
2 - Max VERSTAPPEN Charles LECLERC
3 - Oscar PIASTRI
4 - George RUSSELL
5 - Charles LECLERC
6 - Lewis HAMILTON
7 - Carlos SAINZ
8 - Fernando ALONSO
9 - Nico HULKENBERG
10 - Sergio PEREZ
11 - Franco COLAPINTO
12 - Yuki TSUNODA
13 - Esteban OCON
14 - Lance STROLL
15 - ZHOU Guanyu
16 - Valtteri BOTTAS
17 - Pierre GASLY
18 - Daniel RICCIARDO
DNF - Alexander ALBON
DNF - Kevin MAGNUSSEN
