Introduction
Oscar Piastri claimed victory at the end of a captivating 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, narrowly beating Charles Leclerc to the chequered flag in a race-long, multi-car battle on the streets of Baku, as Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz dramatically crashed out late on.
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Piastri trailed pole-sitter Leclerc in the early stages of the 51-lap encounter but overhauled him shortly after the front-runners’ sole pit stop phase, with Perez – and eventually Sainz – joining them to make it a tense, four-way scrap for honours.
It was Piastri who ultimately came out on top, having expertly defended P1 on several occasions and gained a little bit of breathing space when Leclerc’s tyres faded in the closing laps, which pushed the Ferrari into the clutches of Perez and Sainz.
Drama ensued at the start of the penultimate lap when a failed pass on Leclerc led to Perez going wheel-to-wheel with Sainz – the pair spectacularly colliding on the run between Turns 2 and 3 and ending their afternoons in the concrete wall.
While the race ended under the Virtual Safety Car, there was no stopping the celebrations for McLaren and Piastri, who reflected on “the most stressful afternoon of my life” to bag a second Grand Prix win and help McLaren move to the top of the constructors’ championship.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]Behind Piastri and Leclerc, a big winner from the clash between Perez and Sainz was George Russell, who took an unlikely podium in his Mercedes, while Lando Norris – on an alternative strategy from P15 – passed title rival Max Verstappen for P4 late in the race.
Fernando Alonso had a lonely afternoon in his Aston Martin, being promoted to sixth position with the drama ahead, while Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto built on Williams’s strong qualifying display to score a valuable haul of points for the Grove-based outfit.
Lewis Hamilton made it a points finish for Mercedes after his engine-related back-of-the-grid start, with the final reward of the day going to Haas stand-in Ollie Bearman, who impressively finished just ahead of experienced teammate Nico Hulkenberg.
Pierre Gasly also rose from the rear of the field to take 12th, having been disqualified from qualifying, followed by RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon – the latter two recovering from power unit penalties.
Valtteri Bottas was the final finisher in the other Sauber, with Perez and Sainz ending the race on the sidelines alongside Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda, who clashed on the opening lap to leave the former with a puncture and the latter with car damage.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
A fortnight from the Italian Grand Prix, we have been treated to another thrilling race, with the outcome unclear from the first lap to the last. In Monza, we saw two different strategies in play, but today, almost everyone went with the same choice, but in no way did that detract from the on-track action, with a long three-way fight for the lead and several other battles throughout the race.
For this weekend and indeed the next one, we have gone with the same choice of dry compounds, which worked as expected, adapting very well to the track characteristics and conditions. Going into the event, the Soft was clearly going to be a qualifying tyre and the Hard the quickest for the race, with the Medium as an excellent compromise for the first part of the race. Between yesterday and today, we saw those predictions confirmed.
Even today, the track continued to rubber-in. It meant the lap times continued to improve, and degradation was limited. A few drivers experienced graining, especially in the first stint, but it did not significantly affect their performance. Running in traffic made life complicated regarding tyre management, but that is pretty much inevitable with the current aerodynamic configuration of these cars.
The day on the track:
The majority of drivers (14) opted to start on the Medium tyre. The Hard was chosen by Lando Norris (McLaren), Alexander Albon (Williams), Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls), Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) and both Alpine drivers (Ocon and Gasly). As expected, the one-stop strategy proved the most effective in terms of tyre management: only two drivers, Stroll and Verstappen, pitted twice, but in these cases, the stops were not for strategic reasons: The Canadian had a puncture as a result of a collision with Tsunoda on the opening lap and the Dutchman pitted again because he tried to set the race fastest lap in the closing stages, able to come down pit lane without losing position.
The longest stint of all was driven by Pierre Gasly (Alpine), who completed 50 laps on the Hard, only pitting on the penultimate lap to switch to Softs. As for the Medium, Alex Albon made the most use of it, doing a long 20-lap second stint on the C4.
2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | Australia | McLaren Racing | 1:32:58.007 | 25 | 222 |
| 2. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +10.910s | 18 | 235 |
| 3. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +31.328s | 15 | 143 |
| 4. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +36.143s | 12 | 254 |
| 5. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing | +77.098s | 10 | 313 |
| 6. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Aston Martin F1 Team | +85.468s | 8 | 58 |
| 7. | 45 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | +87.396s | 6 | 12 |
| 8. | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Argentina | Williams Racing | +89.541s | 4 | 4 |
| 9. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +92.401s | 2 | 166 |
| 10. | 50 | Oliver Bearman | Great Britain | Haas F1 Team | +93.127s | 1 | 7 |
| 11. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Haas F1 Team | +93.465s | 0 | 22 |
| 12. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Alpine F1 Team | +117.189s | 0 | 8 |
| 13. | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Australia | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +146.907s | 0 | 12 |
| 14. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +148.841s | 0 | 0 |
| 15. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 5 |
| 16. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 17. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | DNF | 12 | 184 |
| 18. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing | DNF | 4 | 143 |
| 19. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 24 |
| 20. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Visa Cash App F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 22 |
2024 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | McLaren Racing | 666 |
| 2. | Scuderia Ferrari | 652 |
| 3. | Red Bull Racing | 589 |
| 4. | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 468 |
| 5. | Aston Martin F1 Team | 94 |
| 6. | Alpine F1 Team | 65 |
| 7. | Haas F1 Team | 58 |
| 8. | Visa Cash App F1 Team | 46 |
| 9. | Williams Racing | 17 |
| 10. | Kick Sauber F1 Team | 4 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
Red Bull Racing [bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]
Max Verstappen, Driver, Red Bull Racing
In the race, we were stuck behind Lando and Alex and had some issues with balance. The car was jumping around a lot, and we lost contact with the tarmac. We ultimately still had some problems with changes we made before qualifying, and we just paid the price today.
Most of the time, we make a change going into qualifying, which pays off, but sometimes it doesn’t and is just a risk you must make. There is a fix, but we found out too late to make any changes. The initial changes we made were positive; we were going well, and we just made some changes in qualifying that tipped us over the edge. We will work together as a Team for the Championship, and the fight is not over. You win or lose as a Team, and we won’t give up. It is as simple as that.
Sergio Pérez, Driver, Red Bull Racing:
Today was miserable; the last person I wanted to have contact with was Carlos, and to end our weekends like that was a disaster for both of us. I feel that we exited turn two with lots of room between the cars, and as Charles moved inside, Carlos looked to pick up the tow from him. As he picked up speed, he moved quickly, touched my front tyre, and it was game over for me. It is a shame for the Team and the Championship; after today’s race and the work we have done all weekend, it’s hard for everyone to take. I am sad for the Team, but the positive thing is that the pace is back; the changes to the car have put us back in contention. We were fighting for the win and looking like we would have a strong result – that’s what we need to take out of today. We need to keep up with our progress, and hopefully, in the coming races, we can be solid.
CHRISTIAN HORNER, CEO and Team Principal
It was a disappointing end to the race and a very unlucky one for Checo; he was in a position to win that race today, and, unfortunately, we couldn’t achieve that. It looked like Carlos drifted to the left-hand side of the track, and there was contact, which caused a huge amount of damage. Notably, both drivers are ok, but it has cost us crucial points for Checo and the Constructors’ Championship, so we are very disappointed. With Max, he was happier with the car’s set-up, so we’ll have to look into the difference. After the pit stop, he ran into Lando and Alex, who were unlucky as it affected his race, and his tyres started getting out of the window. It was a big swing for the Constructors in the last three laps, and we have lost out on some significant points in the Championship. However, we will brush ourselves down and fight back hard.
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari HP leaves the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a sense of what might have been, as the closing stages of the race at the Baku City Circuit did not go the way the team would have liked.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]It had looked as though both cars would finish on the podium after Carlos Sainz had just moved up to third place on the penultimate lap, but a collision with Sergio Perez wiped it out. Charles Leclerc, starting from pole, finished second behind Oscar Piastri, picking up 18 points, but even this was tinged with disappointment as, after making his only pit stop of the afternoon, it seemed that victory was within his grasp. Nevertheless, the team can take some satisfaction from a solid job done throughout the weekend, which confirms the progress made in terms of performance, which will have to be put to good use in a few days’ time in Singapore.
Carlos Sainz #55
It’s a real shame. The important thing is that Checo (Perez) and I are okay after the crash, but it’s frustrating. I stayed on the regular racing line and didn’t do anything strange, like every other lap, so I didn’t expect the contact on my rear tyre. It’s part of racing, but it hurts, and we lost many points today. I was having an excellent race and was very quick. P3 or even P2 would’ve been possible, but it is what it is—time to turn the page and focus on Singapore.
Charles Leclerc #16
We lost the victory based on two factors today. The first was tyre management on our out-lap from the pits. We expected it to take a long time for everyone to warm up their tyres, which was the case for our car, but not for McLaren, who got their tyres up to temperature immediately and gained a lot of time there. The second was not fighting Oscar harder when he overtook him. I knew we had a long race ahead, and my target was to look after my tyres, stay within DRS range and overtake him later down the line. However, we underestimated their speed on the straights today, running a lower downforce package than us, making them too fast to overtake them. Overall, it wasn’t the best day for our team, but we now head to Singapore and will return stronger.
Frédéric Vasseur – Team Principal
The first part of the race went very well for Charles, and his pace was great. Then we need to analyze the laps immediately after his pit stop as the pace proved too slow, and in the end, he had no tyres left anyway. Probably, we were a bit too conservative at the start of the second stint, but having to drive in dirty air was difficult for Charles, and the result was it damaged the tyres. We will review everything carefully. As for the incident with Carlos and Checo (Perez), they were side by side at the start of the straight leading to turn three, and they both wanted to keep in Charles’ slipstream. Checo had plenty of space on his left side and did not move at all, while Carlos had no room on his right side. We left Baku with a result below expectations, but it was good to see that, as in Monza, we were fighting with McLaren and were competitive. We need to keep the focus and continue fighting, as many more races are to go.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
George Russell finished third, and Lewis Hamilton ninth at the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. George started from P5 on the Medium tyre but suffered from rear tyre temperatures throughout his first stint. It was a similar story for Lewis, who, having taken a new power unit ahead of the race, started from the pit lane on the yellow-walled compound.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]Both ditched the Medium tyre at the end of lap 13, swapping to the Hard compound tyre and went to the end of the race. A gentle introduction in the opening laps paid dividends in the closing stages, with George amongst the fastest runners and closing in the top four. As that group concertinaed together, contact between Sainz and Perez ended with both in the wall and promoted George to P3. Lewis worked hard to battle his way through the pack, but his progress came to a halt when he reached the Williams of Franco Colapinto. However, a puncture for the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg plus the Sainz/Perez incident elevated him to P9 and two hard-earned points at the flag.
George Russell
It was a really strange race today. It was very difficult on the Medium tyre in my first stint. I was over one second off the ultimate pace and finding it hard to control the rear tyre surface temperatures. On the Hard tyre in my second stint, the car felt brilliant. In the final 20 laps, I was lapping one second quicker than those at the very front. It is hard to work out exactly why this was and is a little frustrating.
We were fortunate to get onto the podium and I am glad that both Carlos (Sainz) and Checo (Perez) are OK. We were having a relatively quiet run to P5 after I got past Verstappen, but we will take it. It is a good reward for all the efforts of the team after a challenging weekend on the whole.
Lewis Hamilton
Today was a difficult race. We had a good day on Friday, but the rest of the weekend was tough. We made some changes heading into Saturday that didn’t work out, but we had to live with them. We also knew it would be challenging to overtake today. Despite the long straight, it is hard to follow through the second sector. Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, who I was racing for a lot of the afternoon, did such a great job. It is great to see the youngsters like them coming through and doing so well. For their first and second races, it was very impressive.
Despite how tough my own race was, the positives are that George had a decent race and was able to score some good points for the team. We’ve also got lots of data to work through ahead of Singapore. We’ve got some upgrades coming before the end of the year so hopefully we can make a step closer to those at the front soon.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO
We will take the positive from today that we were able to get one car on the podium. We saw that it was getting feisty at the front and that ultimately ended with Sainz and Perez in the wall. Inheriting a podium and finishing third is better than we expected but we are not fooling ourselves that, on pace today, we were P5.
We will analyse the race and weekend as a whole. The second half of our Grand Prix on the Hard tyre was encouraging. George was able to keep the temperatures under control and, having driven within himself early in the stint, was able to deliver a strong pace in the closing stages. It was more difficult for Lewis with the traffic he faced but at moments, he showed good speed. We now head to Singapore, and it is another difficult circuit to know how everyone will perform. We will dig through the data from this weekend, aim to improve the car balance and have a stronger weekend there.
McLaren Racing
Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]It’s a clean start for Oscar, who holds P2. Lando gets up to P12 on the first lap, starts making moves and is up to P5 by Lap 14. Oscar pits for the Hard tyre on Lap 15. After closing up to Leclerc, Oscar passes him into Turn 1 for the race’s lead. On Lap 37, Lando pits for the Medium tyre and comes out P7. Lando overtakes Verstappen for P6, while Leclerc puts much pressure on Oscar for the race lead. In the race’s final laps, Sainz and Perez collide after Turn 1, which takes them out of the race. The race finishes under Virtual Saftey Car with Oscar P1 and Lando P4.
Lando Norris
An excellent result for the team, with a great race from both sides. First of all, congratulations to Oscar for another win; he deserves it. I think I had a great race. I got the fastest lap and a good number of points from where we were, so I’m very happy. We’re the team that gained the most points today, so I think we should be very satisfied with that. It’s the maximum we could have done today, and we’ve taken the lead in the Constructors’ Championship. A job well done by everyone.
Oscar Piastri
P1! I’m so happy to have won my second Grand Prix. This is the best win of my career. I’m proud of what we did today. I tried to get in front at the start of the race, but once I dropped out of DRS, I just didn’t have the pace. After the stop, I saw we were close again, and I felt like we had a little extra grip. I had to go for it because I knew that if I didn’t get past it at the start of the stint, I was never going to get past it. So, I went for a pretty big lunge but managed to pull it up and then hung on for dear life for the next 35 laps. It was hard work, but I think that definitely goes down as one of my better races.
We’re now leading the World Championship. It’s a massive team effort, and everyone at McLaren deserves full credit for the turnaround that’s happened in my 18 months here. The car has improved, but I think they’ve helped me improve as well: 12 months ago, I definitely wasn’t capable of achieving results like this. I’m excited to see what the future holds.
Andrea Stella
An excellent result for the team, with a great race from both sides. First of all, congratulations to Oscar for another win; he deserves it. I think I had a great race. I got the fastest lap and a good number of points from where we were, so I’m very happy. We’re the team that gained the most points today, so I think we should be very satisfied with that. It’s the maximum we could have done today, and we’ve taken the lead in the Constructors’ Championship. A job well done by everyone.
Aston Martin F1 Team
The final third of the 2024 Formula One season has begun in Baku, Azerbaijan. Read the thoughts of Lance and Fernando following the chequered flag in the City of Winds.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]It was mixed fortunes for the team at the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Fernando drove a solid race to secure sixth place, whilst Lance had to retire the car six laps before the finish with a brake pedal issue.
Fernando Alonso
I’m happy with the result today, and we were able to capitalise on some action in the final few laps to take sixth position.
It was a little bit of a lonely race for me, with nobody ahead to fight with. We were able to follow the trend around us on a one-stop strategy, and we maintained the position to those chasing us behind. It was still a tough race with no time to relax.
We executed everything well with a good strategy and pitstops, so I’m happy we’ve returned from Baku this weekend with some well-earned points.
Lance Stroll
My race was pretty much over on the first lap when [Yuki] Tsunoda and I made contact. I dived down the inside – I’m not sure if he saw me or not – but he closed the door, and I had to pit with a puncture. We’re all racing hard on the opening lap and these things happen, but it left us on the back foot for the rest of the race.
With nine laps to go, I started feeling an issue with the brake pedal, and it was getting worse with each lap. This isn’t a circuit to take any risks at, and we were well out of the points positions, so it made sense to retire the car. It’s been a frustrating weekend, but I’m looking forward to Singapore.
Mike Krack, Team Principal:
Leaving Baku with eight important points is a great return for our efforts this weekend. It is more than we expected coming into the weekend, but it shows there are always opportunities on this challenging street track.
Fernando drove a very strong race, making the most of his qualifying position to run in eighth for most of the afternoon, and then gained a couple of places with the accident ahead in the final laps. Going into the race, we were worried about our tyre degradation, so we give full credit to Fernando and the team for delivering a one-stop race, which was critical for this result.
Lance picked up a puncture [due to contact with Yuki Tsunoda] on lap one and had to pit. That dropped him to the back of the pack and ended his chance of competing for points. Our attention now turns to Singapore next week – a similar challenge to Baku – where we will look to score more points.
Visa Cash App F1 Team
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]
Daniel Ricciardo
It was a tough race. The start felt okay; the medium runners in front of me looked like they were struggling, and we were able to catch them. I was on the hard tyre and tried to use it where I could by going long and finding the pace. After a few laps, we picked up a lot of graining, which got worse and worse over 10 laps, causing us to be a few seconds off the pace. The Team could see some other cars were clearing the graining, however it definitely took us a lot longer. When we did, we were able to come back and have a bit of pace again, but we had lost a lot of ground. I’ve never experienced graining like that, the swing of lap time was up to four seconds. We need to understand why we had more graining for longer. Looking ahead, I love the Marina Bay Street Circuit, so hopefully we can have a stronger weekend there.
Yuki Tsunoda
Very frustrated to have this happen two races in a row. A very short race, losing the opportunity to score points, which would still have been tricky, but you never know on these street races. Starting P12 is obviously not ideal and means there are a lot of risks of getting damage. We just need to step up a little bit and qualify in the top 10, so we can get a better start. In terms of what happened on track, it felt like an unnecessary move from him [Stroll]. Sending it in like that, with a nothing-to-lose approach. I’m not sure what he had to gain, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. It was a shame, not the way I wanted to end my race, but we’ll come back strong in Singapore.
Laurent Mekies – Team Principal
This wasn’t the weekend we were hoping for. Yuki was unlucky to be involved in a collision on the first lap, while Daniel’s pace was badly affected by a huge amount of tyre graining, which kept him outside of the battle for the points. It’s something that is extremely unusual and we will need to get to the bottom of it and understand why it affected us so much more than our competitors. In terms of overall performance during the weekend, no doubt that we still have a lot of work to do in front of us. The updates we brought here gave us an improvement in performance which is good news. However, it is not enough to match the progress our competitors have made and get back into the top 10 fight. Everyone in Faenza and Bicester are working hard to improve in every single area and to introduce more developments soon. Let’s see if we can do better starting on the streets of Singapore in a few days’ time.
Haas F1 Team
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished with Oliver Bearman 10th and Nico Hulkenberg 11th at the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Round 17 of the World Championship, held Sunday at the Baku City Circuit.
Oliver Bearman
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
Purely from Ollie’s driving, I thought it was a really good job. Yes, he was overly managing the tire earlier, but the team should’ve done better to inform Ollie during the first stint. The pace really hindered his race but once he realized he was over-managing, he picked it up and had awareness. I think it’s brilliant to bring home P10 and a much-needed point for the team. All in all with Ollie, he had a setback in FP3, and underperformed in Q2, but overall it’s impressive.
On Nico’s side, his race was strong and it may not be a track he gets on well with but today, he was really strong. He had a good feel on the car and on the tires, he was doing a much better job in the first stint. On his second stint on hards, it was amazing, he really managed them, but it’s a shame that with two laps to go he hit the wall on the right-hand side and lost position to Colapinto. When he was recovering from that, the accident happened with the yellow flag coming out. Nico hit something big, I’m not sure what, but when he saw the green light he didn’t react quick enough, so Hamilton and Ollie overtook him. The positives are that we had the race pace, and even at one of Nico’s worst tracks, he was very competitive. I’m sure we can fight for points for the rest of the season.
Williams Racing
Williams Racing are celebrating the best result since mid-2021 after late drama at the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto clinch P7 and P8.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]Alex Albon
We know how difficult it is to get P9’s and P10’s in races, so to get P7 and P8 is luxurious and we’ll take that! We’ve moved in front of Alpine now in the championship, which was our target by the end of the year. It shows we’ve made good progress with the upgrade. It’s another weekend when we’ve been similar to the Aston on pace and we’ve scored points for the second race in a row. We were much quicker than we expected to be compared to the top teams and it was nice to be in that fight. Let’s see next week but, for this weekend, it’s been strong.
Franco Colapinto
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director:
Alpine Racing
Esteban started the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from Pit Lane on Used Hards, finished P15: Pit Stop on Lap 49 for New Softs. Fastest Lap: 1min 48.831secs. Pierre started from P18 on New Hards, finished P12: Pit Stop on Lap 50 for New Softs. Fastest Lap: 1min 48.018secs.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]Esteban Ocon
It has been a disappointing weekend and a tricky race for us today in Baku. We now want to turn the page quickly, and our focus must be on the next race, which will take a few days to complete in Singapore. As a team, we will regroup and concentrate on maximising all available running time to build the performance, be race-ready, and get a chance to fight in the points.
Pierre Gasly
On one side, I would say that was one of my best races of the season from a driving point of view. It was a good start from eighteenth on the grid, and we were on the limit every corner and every lap and extracted the maximum from the car. There was not much more we could have done, finishing twelfth at the chequered flag. On the other hand, though, we were too slow this weekend. We took a gamble on strategy, running long in the hope that there might be some late action. It came too late, so we could not benefit from it. We made good steps forward from Friday, but it was a challenging weekend for the team. We will get on top of it and must return with a better weekend performance in Singapore.
Oliver Oakes – Team Principal
As a team, we leave Baku frustrated. It’s a weekend, and we must quickly put it behind us. From where we started, with one car at the back and one in the Pit Lane, it would always be tough to progress through the field. We ran both cars long on the Hard tyres, anticipating a late Safety Car or Red Flag, which did not pay off in the end, even with the VSC towards the latter stage of the race. Ultimately, we did not have the reliability to compete this weekend, which we need to analyse and quickly address, especially as we’ve dropped. We’ve gotten an edge in the Championship standings. We’ll look back in Singapore, where we need to re-find some of the performances and forms we had during summer break.
Kick Sauber F1 Team
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber battled from lights to flag in a thrilling 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Zhou Guanyu bringing the C44 home in 14th place, ahead of team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, in 16th place. There were plenty of battles on track in Baku, with both drivers involved in close fights with their direct rivals as the team keeps working hard to improve its position on track.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]Valtteri Bottas
It was a tough day for us. We tried to split the car strategies, to try and maximise returns, but it didn’t really work out in the end. The main issue was the rapid degradation of the medium tyres at the start, forcing us into an early pit stop. The car felt better on the hard compound, but even that tyre started to struggle towards the end. Despite some luck, with a few rivals dropping out of contention, we couldn’t achieve a balanced stint and missed out on the points. Now we need to regroup and try again in Singapore.
Zhou Guanyu
I think the race went smoothly and cleanly on my end. The team executed our strategy well, but our pace wasn’t strong enough to fight closer to the points. That said, it’s encouraging to see progress this weekend, especially in terms of racecraft. We were able to compete with a few other teams, which is a positive sign. There’s still a long road ahead, and while we know we’re not quite where we want to be yet, we’ll keep fighting and working together as a team to close the gap.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative
We finished this race in a similar position to the previous ones, and we were not able to change our trend, despite the hard work of everyone within the team. Valtteri struggled during his first stint on medium tyres following Tsunoda, and the lack of pace meant we lost ground compared to our starting position. Right from the very beginning, he suffered graining that prevented him from having reasonable pace, so we pitted him on lap 12, trying to improve his balance with fresh tyres and a different compound. This was not enough, though. On the positive side, Zhou delivered a solid race, managing his tyres well during the first part of the afternoon. We then decided to extend his first stint, stopping him on lap 35, and he had a strong final part of the race on medium tyres, overtaking Ocon in the closing stages and bringing him up to finish in P14. Zhou progressed well throughout the weekend and was able to be more in the mix today with our direct competitors. We know this is not enough to get in the points: therefore, there is nothing to do other than keep working to optimise the setup window for the next race in Singapore and, of course, work hard to bring updates that can allow us to find more pace.