Winners and Losers from 2024 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

An intense weekend from Azerbaijan saw Oscar Piastri seal his second grand prix win, fending off a challenge from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

There was drama and storylines up and down the grid as a dream result was realised for some, while misery was endured for others.

But who features on our Winners and Losers list following the race in Baku?

Winner – Oscar Piastri

It was by far Oscar Piastri’s best weekend in his short F1 career.

The Australian can be forgiven for missing out on pole position to Charles Leclerc, who proved himself to be the ‘master of Baku’ (as coined by his own team-mate) with his run to a fourth consecutive pole in Azerbaijan.

Piastri’s shortcoming during his F1 career to date has been his tyre management and race execution, which was put to a fierce test on Sunday.

After a terrific overtake on Leclerc, Piastri was immediately forced into a defensive position.

For almost 30 laps he clung on to the lead, pushing his car to the limit while keeping his tyres in check to capture a significant result for both himself and McLaren.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that Piastri is in just his second season and his display in Baku is a clear signal of what’s to come in the races ahead.

Loser – Red Bull

The writing was on the wall for some time, but Red Bull losing the lead in the constructors’ championship is a huge moment for the team.

In the early stages of the campaign, it seemed that we were in for a repeat of the 2023 season with Max Verstappen dominating and Sergio Perez’s performances keeping the rest of the teams at bay in the title fight.

It was impossible to predict that we would have such a scenario as the current one – Red Bull slipping into second and looking over its shoulder at a lurking Ferrari in third.

Red Bull can still pull back in the final races and clinch another title, but momentum is not on its side.

Fixes must come quickly and it is expecting another tough round in Singapore before eyeing fixes in the United States – but by then, will it be too little, too late?

Winner – Franco Colapinto

Colapinto’s weekend started in difficult fashion as a shunt with the wall threatened to knock his confidence.

Perhaps it would have been less surprising if the Argentine’s weekend was smooth – he was chucked into just his second grand prix start around one of the most challenging circuits in the entire calendar.

Indeed, Colapinto did flirt with the barrier on a number of occasions – but when it mattered, he delivered.

10th place on the road certainly still would have earned him a place on the winners’ list, however a late crash between Perez and Sainz boosted him up two more positions which will look good on the resumé.

Williams was strong all weekend but Colapinto scoring points does not just warrant a basic compliment – he exceeded expectations in facing one of the biggest tests of his racing career.

Loser – Lewis Hamilton

“A race of misery” is how Toto Wolff described Lewis Hamilton’s Sunday from Baku, and he does not stray far from the truth.

A power unit change before the race saw the seven-time world champion demoted to the pit lane for the start, one day after he lost the qualifying head-to-head battle against team-mate George Russell.

Hamilton was slow to progress through the field and spent much of the race in traffic as he looked to salvage something from a difficult weekend.

Two points were gifted to him following the crash between Perez and Sainz, but it’s a lacklustre result for a driver who is used to winning more than any other.

Hamilton will be looking for a boosted result this weekend in Singapore as he enters his final seven races in Mercedes colours – if he wishes to end the tenure on a high, he won’t be looking for anything that resembles his weekend in Baku.

Winner – McLaren

At the beginning of the 2023 season, every critic was shaking their heads at McLaren, wondering where it went so wrong for the team.

18 months later and the Woking-based squad is now facing its first F1 title in 16 years having overtaken Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

Lando Norris faced an unlucky situation during qualifying that saw him drop out in Q1 – however the Briton recovered well during the grand prix to salvage a strong fourth-place finish.

There’s not much more to be said about Piastri who took a classy win under fierce pressure to aid the championship charge.

With seven races remaining in the season, McLaren look to be in the strongest shape to bring home the prestigious constructors’ trophy.

While the job is not done yet, all signs are now pointing to McLaren completing the job – it has a fantastic car, an emphatic driver line-up and sheer determination to restore the team’s name in title glory.

Loser – Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez’s run on the build-up to the summer break that his immediate future within the squad was thrown under heavy scrutiny.

The Mexican’s shortcomings on the resumption of the season in Zandvoort have been somewhat masked by an underperforming RB20 car.

But in Baku, it was Perez who was on top of Verstappen throughout the whole weekend. In qualifying, he got the better of his team-mate for the first time this year and was clearly the stronger runner in the grand prix.

As he closed in on his first podium since China, Perez’s fantastic efforts from the weekend ended in the wall following a crash with Sainz.

The question of who was to blame is irrelevant – Sainz vs Perez aside, the huge opportunity for the 34-year-old was lost in an instant.

A podium to raise his confidence and pull him from the despair he’s been enduring was right there for the taking – instead, we are discussing another missed opportunity for Red Bull.