It may be the transfer of the complete Formulation 1 season, and it may very well be the second that propelled McLaren to a championship.
In Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc began from pole place forward of Oscar Piastri and pulled away from the McLaren driver over the primary portion of the race. Whereas Leclerc’s SF-24 was dialed in on the medium compound, Piastri’s MCL38 fell off the tempo as the motive force handled increased tire degradation.
However all that modified after each drivers pitted for laborious tires, and Piastri slowly reeled Leclerc in on the entrance of the sphere. On the tail finish of Lap 19, Piastri obtained inside placing distance, after which delivered this dramatic overtake that had Alex Jacques and Jolyon Palmer within the broadcast sales space on F1TV searching for the correct descriptions, earlier than touchdown on “extraordinary” and “Ricciardo-esque:”
With the benefit of DRS, Piastri closes the hole to Leclerc in entrance of him to inside 20 meters, whereas touring over 330 kilometers per hour. It’s then when Piastri cuts to the within and grabs the within racing line, however he must get the breaking completely proper to make the overtake stick and keep away from the wall on the left-handed Flip 1.
By some means, a way, he makes this transfer stick. Leclerc tries to counter popping out of Flip 1, however Piastri closes the door on that transfer.
Listed here are a number of extra angles of this duel:
Because the laps ticked down Leclerc had a number of possibilities at retaking the lead, however Piastri closed the door each time. Ultimately, Leclerc suffered some rear tire degradation of his personal, and Piastri pulled away for his second Grand Prix victory.
That win, coupled with an incredible restoration drive from Lando Norris — who began the day down in P15 however recovered to complete fourth together with capturing a bonus level for the quickest lap of the race — propelled McLaren to the highest of the Constructors’ Championship standings, forward of Crimson Bull.
Whereas there may be a whole lot of racing left on this season, and Crimson Bull believes they’ll have an improved RB20 beginning with america Grand Prix subsequent month, if McLaren goes on to win their first title since 1998, they may look again at this overtake because the second that made it potential.
Maybe deservedly so.
