00:01And Formula One goes racing on the streets!
00:04Good reaction time for our pole sitter.
00:06Charles Leclerc has the lead in the turn number one.
00:08Oscar Piastri is second.
00:10There was a lock-up for Sergio Perez,
00:12but he wasn't able to take third place away.
00:14How brave is he feeling into turn two?
00:16There's your answer!
00:17Up to third position for Sergio Perez.
00:20Sainz falls down to fourth.
00:22It's a good, good getaway for Sergio Perez.
00:25Charles Leclerc has the lead and then we're side by side further back.
00:28And Verstappen made a place on George Russell as well.
00:30Russell trying to come back into turn three,
00:33but he's too far back.
00:34Didn't have the fronts warmed up and both Red Bulls are gaining places.
00:38This is Lance Stroll.
00:39He was in the middle of the pack at the time.
00:41There's the contact.
00:42They were close into three.
00:44They were close into four.
00:45And then eventually by the time they got to five, contact.
00:48Tsunoda close the door on me.
00:51Lance Stroll has a puncher.
00:53He was running close to Yuki Tsunoda earlier in the lap.
00:56And Norris has gained two places.
00:57We saw him behind Daniel Ricciardo.
00:59He's now past Ricciardo and Hülkenberg.
01:01Lando Norris trying to gain another place.
01:03Yuki Tsunoda is in 11th.
01:04That is Hülkenberg trying to go around the outside.
01:07And now Lando Norris, who started this Grand Prix in 15th,
01:10finds himself up three places.
01:12But that was all caused by the puncher for Lance Stroll.
01:15And they bunched up as a result.
01:17Got to make moves quickly.
01:19Lando Norris trying to undo the damage of qualifying in his first Q1 exit.
01:23He's got Yuki Tsunoda off the racing line.
01:26Can't pass him into turn number one.
01:28What about turn number two?
01:29Lando Norris needs this.
01:30And he's got it.
01:31He moves up now to 11th place.
01:35On board with Lando Norris trying to make another pass.
01:39And he's going to get it done on the brakes.
01:40Behrman wise enough to know that his race is with other cars.
01:43And it's another position gain.
01:45Norris now up five places.
01:48Lando, can you do anything to hold Perez up in the middle sector
01:50without hurting yourself?
01:52Yes.
01:53This lap.
01:54That is Lando Norris trying to protect his teammate's second place at the moment
01:58from a hard-charging Sergio Perez.
02:01So you have to do it in the middle sector,
02:02because if you try to do it on the straight,
02:03you'll just get past Slam Dunk.
02:05That's going to happen anyway though, isn't it?
02:06Yeah, we see that.
02:09And now Piastri pits.
02:10So they've had to use Norris as an emergency.
02:13Slow down Perez, please,
02:14because we've not covered him off when we should have done.
02:16You're looking at the visor cam for Sergio Perez,
02:20a master of these streets.
02:22And he's trying to stand on the podium at minimum again today.
02:25Who's on the exit of the corner though?
02:27It's Oscar Piastri with track position.
02:30And Perez had the tire advantage,
02:32but Norris played the team game.
02:34And Piastri stays ahead for that time being.
02:38Piastri is coming,
02:39and he's going to get the DRS right about now.
02:42There's the over speed.
02:43Here's the chance for Oscar Piastri.
02:45How brave is he feeling on the brakes?
02:47It's a dive bomb move.
02:49It's a change of lead.
02:51Extraordinary stuff from the Australian.
02:54Charles Leclerc fights back,
02:55but he can't take it back.
02:57Oscar Piastri on this set of tires has come alive,
03:01and he's first in the race.
03:03He's trying to break the toe.
03:05This Grand Prix has gone electric,
03:07and Piastri still has the lead as they exit turn three.
03:13Absolute beauty of a move for the lead once again from Oscar Piastri.
03:17Last week, it was outside.
03:18This week, it's inside, and Leclerc thought he was too far back.
03:22Piastri thought otherwise, smoked it in on the inside,
03:25and he's through into the race lead.
03:27But Leclerc's well within DRS range.
03:30At the moment, Lando Norris is hanging on to it,
03:32and defending heavily up against Max Verstappen.
03:35Well, it's worth more to Norris to defend from Verstappen
03:38than it is to defend from Sainz.
03:40Oh, he had to get out of the throttle!
03:41The top two in the World Championship nearly came to blows again!
03:49It's a scary one, turn 15.
03:51You come over that crest, and the barrier greets you very quickly
03:54if you don't stop the car well enough.
03:57He is an unflappable character, Oscar Piastri.
04:00He always has been.
04:01He's trying to win his second Grand Prix today,
04:03but Charles Leclerc has something to say about it.
04:06The door was closed in Charles Leclerc's face.
04:08That's the closest he's been since he lost the lead.
04:10Piastri on the defensive.
04:12Wonderful battling for the win here in Baku.
04:16It is game on for the lead of the Grand Prix.
04:19That gap is going to come down and down with every metre
04:21that they run to turn number one.
04:23We're into DRS range.
04:24Are we going to have another change for the lead?
04:27Charles Leclerc wants that inside line.
04:28He will not be given it,
04:30and there's no room to go the long way round.
04:33Not this time.
04:34But how about into turn two?
04:35Chop across from Piastri.
04:37Now it really is gloves off.
04:38Piastri accelerating from a part of the racetrack that he didn't want to be in.
04:43And yet he's still got the lead of that Grand Prix.
04:47Charles Leclerc in the wheel tracks, having to think about the risk versus reward.
04:52And the top three in the Grand Prix are now separated by eight tenths of a second.
04:58On board with George Russell, diving to the inside, and Russell gets ahead.
05:03It's that inside line that's the grippiest.
05:06It's the inside line that gives George Russell P6.
05:09I wondered how far they could take Lando Norris through this Grand Prix.
05:13The answer is lap 38.
05:15They've taken it as far as they could.
05:17Look at these two in the land of fire, driving the matches.
05:24This is amazing.
05:27Can Max Verstappen keep behind his rival for the championship?
05:30Or is Lando Norris going to gain points up against the Red Bull driver?
05:35There is the answer.
05:38Powering through and taking points out of the championship lead.
05:42Against all expectations, Lando Norris moves up to sixth position.
05:48Kicking up the dust in the late evening sun, who will be second going into turn number one.
05:53Perez is powering through.
05:55Perez has got them late on the brakes.
05:57Leclerc refuses to give it up.
05:59And can Carlos Sainz fight by?
06:01Yes! Wow, what a move! It was nearly second for Perez.
06:06But it's Carlos Sainz who gets by.
06:08And this one's not over yet.
06:10We're heading into the wall at high speed.
06:13Sainz and Perez make collision.
06:16Make a collision at high speed.
06:18Perez is out.
06:19He's out of the Grand Prix.
06:20And on the penultimate lap of the race,
06:22that's the moment that wins the Grand Prix for Oscar Piastri.
06:27First of all, Perez attacking Leclerc.
06:29And this was deep defense from Charles Leclerc, who got down the inside
06:33and just forces Perez to check up a little bit.
06:35Now Sainz comes through and he's attacking Leclerc.
06:38But he gets wide on his teammate and he can't turn in.
06:41He loses a load of front grip.
06:42It allows Perez to come back through.
06:44They're side by side.
06:46It's so needless.
06:47Probably particularly on Perez, who's got a clearer view
06:49and has space to just move to the left-hand side.
06:52What the f*** did you do, man?
06:54What the f***?
06:56Is he crazy or what?
06:58F*** idiot.
06:59What happened there?
07:01Are you okay?
07:02Yeah, but I don't get it.
07:06The Oscar goes to the top step of the podium.
07:11Oscar Piastri wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
07:15And it will be a sequel to celebrate.
07:19The Australian is a Grand Prix winner for the second time.
07:23And what a day for McLaren.
07:26All the fallout from Monza, how they lost the race.
07:29This time they've won it.
07:30The genius of Piastri has won the race.
07:33But with a Red Bull and a Ferrari crashing right at the end,
07:36they lead the Constructors' Championship and suddenly by a solid margin.
07:40That is a Grand Prix with all the elements of a classic.
07:44Two drivers daring themselves to the limit of what is possible at the head of Motorsport's pinnacle.
07:52Moves on the edge, eventually contact between rivals.
07:55Norris upending expectations to take three points out of the lead of Max Verstappen.
08:00To be continued...
08:01To be continued...
Comments