F1 Baku, the analysis: Piastri’s masterpiece, Ferrari fast but too cautious

By Carlo Platella
In Baku McLaren takes revenge on Ferrari, with Oscar Piastri challenging Leclerc’s race in Monza for the title of best performance of the year. The suspicion is that in Azerbaijan the Red was the car to beat, but the British team forcefully takes a victory built with thatcynical and aggressive approach that was missing in ItalyThe team led by Andrea Stella is now the leader of a constructors’ world championship that is decisively taking the road to Woking.

Oscar Piastri’s attack

It seems like a one-way race that unfolds in the opening laps, with Leclerc defending pole position at the start, then slowly building a 6-second lead over Piastri’s McLaren. In the opening lap, both Ferraris impress in the first sector, with better management of the medium tyres prone to overheating and thermal degradation, especially on the rear axle. In fact, just before the pit stop, performance begins to drop, with Leclerc’s times rising by 2 seconds in 4 laps. Correctly, the Prancing Horse waits for McLaren’s pit stop before reacting, but on that very lap the Rossa pays for a sudden collapse of the tireswith a sudden 1.2-second jump on the clock.

Upon returning to the track, the Monegasque driver thus found himself having to manage a thinner advantage than before. In Ferrari, however, they opted for a gentle introduction to hard rubberdestined to complete 35 laps. In the comparison with his McLaren rival, in the second and third sector of the lap out of the pits Leclerc concedes 6 tenths. The caution of the Prancing Horse continues, with the Ferrari driver who on the next lap laps half a second higher than the pace he will maintain for the rest of the stint, paying another 8 tenths to Piastri. For the Australian, an opportunity opens up that would otherwise have been impossible, concretized with a very deep braking that takes Leclerc by surprise, who does not defend the inside. The result is one of the best overtakings of the yearwhich is worth the lead of the race.

The Siege of Charles Leclerc

Once he had conquered the first position, Oscar Piastri set an extremely aggressive pace to the race, half a second faster than the one just behind who had just stopped, astonishing Leclerc himself. With the exception of Mercedes, none of the leading teams tried the hard tyre on Friday, but McLaren is the only one to have the very fresh feedback of Lando Norriswhich started on the hards. Encouraged by the data collected, the Woking pit wall did not stop Piastri from pushing hard. On the other hand, Ferrari expected to have to manage more, which also explains Leclerc’s great caution in the laps immediately after the pit stop.

The Monegasque tries everything, but without ever getting the better of McLaren. The papaya cars were actually among the slowest on the straight in qualifying, and therefore did not enjoy a more unloaded configuration than the competition. It is rather the long Baku straight that makes overtaking difficult, due to the reduced capacity of both the DRS and the slipstream effect with the more unloaded wings. The main difficulty for Leclerc, however, is staying close to his opponent despite the dirty air. The disturbance probably causes the Monegasque to feel less incisive with the hard tyres compared to the mediums of the first stint, when however he was travelling in free air.

The fact that for almost 30 laps the Ferrari remained within DRS range of McLaren, leaves the impression that SF-24 is the most competitive car in Bakubetween speed and tire management, a potential that however cannot emerge. “If Charles had stayed in the lead I think he would have won by a certain margin,” reflects Piastri. Disturbed by the Australian’s slipstream, Leclerc repeatedly slides, whipping his rear tyres in an attempt to find the decisive traction. In the end, the Monegasque is forced to surrender, with the Australian celebrating a superlative victory, able to close every door and without ever making a mistake despite the very long pressure.

The importance of track position

In the final laps Leclerc finds himself going from attacker to defender, with his tyres now exhausted. In better conditions is Sergio Perez, who for about ten laps has raised his times by half a second per lap, distancing himself from the dirty air and letting his tyres breathe. A strategy that Leclerc could not have implementedas it would have exposed him to the assault of the Red Bull behind him. In the meantime, Carlos Sainz also climbs back up, recovering the 9 seconds of delay from which he started after the stop.

The Spaniard’s pace does not confirm Ferrari’s superiority in Baku, but it does show that the aggressive pace imposed by Piastri was not the best in terms of saving race time. Proof is also provided by George Russell, who at the end laps between 7 tenths and 1 second faster than the leading trio. McLaren’s Winning Strategy was therefore to focus everything on gaining the lead as soon as possible at the expense of tyre management, giving priority to track position. A vision that also in other Grand Prix made the difference between victory and second place.

Change at the top

McLaren is now first in the teams’ standings, remaining the number one favourite for the constructors’ world championship. Ferrari’s 51-point gap is perfectly recoverable from a mathematical point of view, with the doubts, if anything, being on the performance level. The Scuderia from Maranello was absolutely convincing in Baku, now heading towards Singapore, another theoretically friendly track. From Austin onwards, however, the Prancing Horse will have to demonstrate that it has solved its bouncing problems and that it has found competitiveness also on longer, wider and more mileage-oriented curves, areas where at the moment there is a lack of certainty.

Of course, Red Bull will also be part of the race. The final incident with Sainz does not cancel out the excellent performance of Sergio Perez, who had been battling with the Ferraris and the leading McLaren for a long time. However, Baku is a track that masks the balance problems of the RB20, the resolution of which remains to be seen. This time, however, it is Verstappen the driver in crisis of the pairwhile Checo does not deny his affinity with the Azerbaijani circuit. In addition to the usual problems, the world champion complains about the lack of brake bite, shifting his attention to the preparation of his RB20. In the race, the Dutchman also continues to underline the difficulty of the Red Bull in digesting the roughness of the asphalt, despite the stabilizing action of the weight of the fuel. A problem destined to amplify even more in a week in Singapore.

Consolation Mercedes

George Russell’s fortuitous podium certainly lifts the mood at Mercedes. In Baku, the Silver Arrows suffer from the chronic problem of overheating of the rear wheels, a recurring problem since the beginning of the season and in general in the latest Brackley cars. The instructions given by radio to Hamilton are eloquent, inviting him to keep the temperatures of the rear axle under control. The situation improves once the hard tyres are mounted, less prone to overheating, allowing Russell to express a good pace in the final.Tires, tires, tires”the warning from the Englishman at the end of the match, dictating the agenda to follow to soon return to fighting at the top.