Was Baku a missed opportunity for Scuderia Ferrari to secure another race victory after the Monza round or rather a success built by Oscar Piastri? It seems like a simple question, but in reality, there are many answers and schools of thought. Undoubtedly, after a first part of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix largely dominated from pole position, Ferrari and Charles Leclerc’s ambition had to be to capitalize and bring home the result.
The decisive moment was undoubtedly the pit stops, including the in-lap and out-lap, which caused Charles Leclerc to lose his six-second lead, allowing the McLaren driver to close in and make the overtake that changed the course of the Baku race. After discussing how those seconds disappeared over just a few kilometers, there’s another interesting aspect to delve into: how Oscar Piastri managed to defend the position he had gained after around twenty laps.
Having taken the lead of the race with a fine braking move into turn one, which Charles Leclerc did not resist in hopes of overtaking later with DRS, the Australian embarked on a different race, managed with extreme calm, because remaining under pressure for over twenty laps on a track like Baku, where mistakes are always lurking, is certainly no easy achievement.
“For me, trying to keep Charles behind was incredibly stressful. I couldn’t make a single mistake. I made a couple, but on a track like Baku, it’s impossible to drive at 100% and not make any mistakes. I was lucky they weren’t serious enough to cost me the victory. The 30 laps where I tried to keep Charles behind were incredibly difficult,” said Oscar Piastri at the end of the race. The Australian driver’s ice-cold demeanor was just one of the reasons he was able to build this victory.
In the hours following the Baku event, there was much talk about McLaren’s flexible wing, especially the fact that it could create a sort of gap between the mainplane and the movable flap, creating a mini DRS effect. An aspect worth analyzing, but there are far more concrete reasons that allowed the Australian to defend and hold off Charles Leclerc’s pressure for nearly thirty laps.
One of the crucial aspects where McLaren has improved over the past two years is without a doubt in the traction phase, an area where it previously showed some weaknesses compared to its competitors. However, it’s not always easy to manage the rear axle, especially when a series of factors come into play, such as rising track surface temperatures, the qualifying lap, and the use of the C5 tire, the softest in the range. This was an issue that also came up in Baku during the qualifying lap, where managing the rear end is crucial, and in this area, Charles Leclerc was a master.
In the race, however, the situation changed slightly. On one hand, the use of harder tires allowed McLaren to find a good balance, while on the other, the fact that Charles Leclerc stayed in dirty air for so long, despite potentially having a better pace, meant that his rear tires suffered from the strain, putting him in difficulty towards the end. As seen in other rounds of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, although there is still work to be done in high temperatures, the Woking team has managed to find a fairly effective compromise in terms of rear suspension stiffness to be competitive both in fast corners and in traction.
However, there are three key moments where this made the difference, starting with the moment Oscar Piastri’s overtake changed the course of the race.
At that point in the race, the Monegasque driver was struggling to find grip with the harder tire, which was also evident in his exit from the last corner, perfectly set up by Oscar Piastri. This is a fundamental issue, because in reality, Ferrari’s top speeds with DRS closed were comparable to McLaren’s, but Charles Leclerc’s difficulty with traction and the extra time he needed to reach the same speed at the end of the straight opened the door for the Australian’s attempt. If the Monegasque had somehow covered the inside, it would have undoubtedly been much harder for the McLaren driver to make the attack, but looking at the situation overall, it was that struggle in traction that created the opportunity leading to the victory.
“I couldn’t be very aggressive. My tires were still cold. I was really struggling to get them up to temperature. I thought it wouldn’t be a problem if he passed me at that point in the race, because it was still long, and DRS would help me stay close. Once my tires were up to temperature, I could overtake him again. But, as I said, it was a misjudgment on my part,” the Ferrari driver explained.
At certain moments during the second stint, as Charles Leclerc himself explained, the Monegasque felt he potentially had something extra in terms of pace. In fact, on several occasions, the number 16 Ferrari came close to overtaking, even with a speed delta similar to the one Oscar Piastri used to overtake Charles Leclerc, around 20 kilometers per hour. However, between that attempt and those Charles Leclerc made, there was always a big difference: the final corner.
As seen before, Oscar Piastri often managed to gain those crucial meters in traction exiting the final corner, as can be seen in the lap 30 graph, stretching just enough so that Charles Leclerc could only get alongside on the outside but couldn’t complete the maneuver before the braking zone. The Australian always defended excellently, covering the inside line without compromising too much on turn one. This work began in the castle section, located in the second sector, where dirty air affects the car behind the most.
“I tried to take a lot of risks in the castle section, because I needed to close the gap from turn 7 to the rest of the lap. And yes, I had a couple of close calls in the castle section and at turn 15. That’s where I tried to be quick and obviously exit well from the last corner,” Oscar Piastri recounted.
It’s no coincidence that Charles Leclerc came under attack from Sergio Perez at the end only when his tires, especially the rears which had been pushed to the limit throughout the second stint, were completely worn out: Red Bull undoubtedly has an effective DRS, but the significant difference in traction was the even more decisive element in facilitating the attempt, even though the overtake didn’t materialize thanks to Charles Leclerc’s strong defense.
“When Oscar passed me, I was fairly calm in the car. I focused on tire management. After 10 or 15 laps, I thought everything was settling down and maybe towards the end we’d be in a better position. But with the dirty air, I think for 20 or 25 laps towards the end of the race, my tires were completely gone,” Charles Leclerc added.
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