Turbocharged in Baku: The Top 10 Driver Reactions from the F1 Azerbaijan GP 2024

Comments from the driver who finished in the top 10 in the Azerbaijan F1 GP finale. The final race of the 17th round of the 2024 F1 World Championship, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, took place on Sunday, September 5.

Oscar Piastri (McLaren) took his second win in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a fierce battle with Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). In the final two laps, a dramatic crash between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr., who were battling for the top three, gave George Russell (Mercedes) a surprise podium finish.

1st place: Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
“P1! I’m very happy to win my second Grand Prix. This is the best win of my career. I’m proud of the work we did today. We tried to get to the front at the start of the race, but DRS Once I got out of the zone, I couldn’t pick up the pace. After the pit stop we were quite close and I felt I had a bit more grip, so if I hadn’t been able to get past him at the start, I wouldn’t have been able to get past him after that, so I pushed hard and managed to get past him, and then I held on for the next 35 laps, which was difficult, but I think it was definitely one of the best races of my life. It was a total team effort and everyone at McLaren deserves the transformation we’ve made in the 18 months I’ve been here, but I also think we’ve improved even though we weren’t in a position to get results like this, I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

2nd place: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
“Two things cost us the win today. The first was tyre management on the out-lap. We expected our car to take a while to warm up the tyres, but McLaren warmed up the tyres quickly and made a lot of gains. Secondly, I should have fought harder when he passed me and I knew it was going to be a long race and that was my aim, to look after my tyres and stay in DRS, and then try to pass him later. However, today they were running a low downforce package and the straight-line speed was too high to try to pass him. Overall, it wasn’t the best day for our team, but now we’ll try to do it in Singapore and come back stronger.”

3rd place: George Russell (Mercedes)
“It was a really strange race today. In the first stint it was very difficult on the medium tyres, we were more than a second off the pace of the leaders and it was difficult to control the surface temperature of the rear tyres. When I switched to the hard tyres, the car was very good and in the last 20 laps I managed to do a lap time that was a second quicker than the leading group. I don’t know exactly why, but it was a bit frustrating. We were lucky to get on the podium and I’m happy that both Carlos (Sainz) and Czech (Perez) managed to get past Verstappen. Overall, it was a difficult weekend, but I think the team’s efforts paid off.”

4th place: Lando Norris (McLaren)
“It’s a great result for the team. It was a great race for both of us. First of all, I would like to congratulate Oscar for another win. He deserves it. I think I had a great race too. I had the best result, the fastest lap and both of us, considering our position, managed to score a lot of points, so I’m very happy. We were the team that scored the most points today, so we should be very happy at the Tars Championship too. Congratulations to everyone.

5th place: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
“Today’s race was the worst case scenario with a crash, but the most important thing is that Perez is safe. In the race he got stuck behind Lando (Norris) and Alex (Albon) and that caused balance issues with the car bouncing and reducing contact with the ground. There were still issues with the changes made before qualifying and today we had to pay the price before qualifying. Making changes can lead to improvements, but you also have to take risks. There was a way to improve things, but I realised it too late. The first changes were positive and I was able to move in the right direction, one change made before qualifying didn’t change everything, it’s over yet, so I will continue to do my best with the team. We will never give up this simple battle, whether we win or lose as a team.

6th place: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

“I’m happy with today’s result. I took advantage of some action in the last laps and managed to get 6th place. It was a bit of a lonely race for me, without competing with anyone. I managed to keep up with the flow around me with a one-stop strategy and managed to hold my position against the guys chasing me from behind. However, it was a tough race with no time to relax. All the stops went well and I’m happy to end the weekend in Baku with some points.”

7th place: Alexander Albon (Williams)
“We know how difficult it is to get 9th and 10th in a race, so 7th and 8th are luxury results and it’s great to get them in the championship ahead of Alpine. It was a target to achieve by the end of the year! It showed that we have made good progress with the upgrades. It was a similar weekend to Aston Martin in terms of pace and we scored points for the second race in a row. We managed to take it over the top teams as well, we managed to join the battle a lot quicker than we expected, so hopefully it will be the same next week, it’s going very well.

8th place: Franco Colapinto (Williams)
“It’s a great feeling to score points for the first time in F1. I’m proud of what we have achieved together with this team. In only our second race, we were able to show the fruits of our efforts in the form of points. I’m happy. Today we had a good pace and managed to catch up with Aston Martin. We finished together with Alex (Albon) in 7th and 8th place, which puts us in 8th place in the constructors’ championship ahead for the team and will give us more motivation. There is still a long season and many races to go, so we need to continue learning and improving together next weekend in Singapore.

9th place: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
“It was a tough race today. I felt good on Friday but the rest of the weekend was tough. I made some changes on Saturday but they didn’t work out. But I had to accept that. I also knew it would be tough to overtake today, although it was tough to overtake in sector 2 despite the long straights, Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, who I ran with all afternoon, had a good race and guys like them are going well and their performances were fantastic. Their first and second races were really impressive. No matter how tough my race was, the fact that George had a decent race and brought some good points for the team is a positive. And we have a lot of data to work with for Singapore. We have some updates planned for later in the year so hopefully we can be close to the front soon.”

10th place: Oliver Bearman (Haas)
“In the first stint I was slow and lost some positions, so I got stuck in traffic and lost some time and was a bit behind in the race. In the second stint I was quite happy with my performance. We are trying to overtake, because you are overloading the tyres and it is hot, so I tried to push hard to pass Franco (Colapinto), but in the end I got passed by Lewis (Hamilton), I took advantage of that and I managed to overtake, I didn’t think I would finish in the points, but I had a bit of bad luck in front of me, so I managed to take the points.”

Category: Formula 1 / F1 Azerbaijan GP / F1 Driver