The hallmarks of an F1 world champion Oscar Piastri showed in Baku

Oscar Piastri's second grand prix victory shows he i🍌s an F1 world champion in the making, writes Lewis Larkam iღn Baku.

Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri claimed his second grand prix victory with what was surely the best drive of his impressive yet fledgeling F1 career in Baku.

The McLaren driver, sharing the front row of the grid with four-time Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole winner 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc, stalked the Ferrari throughout the opening stages of Sunday’s 51-lap race before pulling off ♏an audacious pass on Lap 20.

Piastri “hung oꦗn for dear life” over the next 31 laps to secure his second grand prix victory of the season with a performance he felt “definitely goes down as one of my better races of my career”.

En route to🎀 his stunning win, the Australian, who is s𒁏till only 23, demonstrated attributes that surprised even his McLaren team, and showed he is an F1 world champion in the making.

Precision and execution 

Piastr🐟i’s overtake on Leclerc was phenomenal. From a seemingly-impossible distance, the McLaren driver brilliantly and bravely lunged his car down the inside of the Monegasque at ♌Turn 1.

The spectacular divebomb appeared to catch Leclerc totally by surprise, but it was judged and executed to perfection by Piastri. There🅷 was no pan🏅ic or out-of-control moment. He didn’t lock up or run too wide, nor did he make contact with either his rival or the barriers.

As Piastri declared himself, it was “what won me the r🍒ace”. He revealed he had ignored his race engineer Tom Stallard’s advice to bring his tyres in gently during the first stint by going for the overtake. Piastri k🦋new it was now or never, and his killer instinct took over.

Oscar Piastri leads Charles Leclerc
Oscar Piastri leads Charles Leclerc

“I felt a bit sorry for my race engineer because I basically tried to do that in the first stint and completely cooked my tyres,” he said. “So my engineer came on the radio and said, ‘let's not do🍎 that again’, basically. I completely ignored him the next lap and sent it down the inside.

“If I didn't take that oಌpportu🌺nity then I was never going to have another one. Credit to Charles, he was incredibly fair. I think maybe he thought I was going to sail on into the run-off but I was pleasantly surprised that I actually made the corner.

“It was a high-risk, high-commitment move but that’s what I needed to do to try and win the race because I wasn't really going t🐠o be tha𒈔t keen to finish second. So I had to try.”

McLaren team principal And𒐪rea Stella admitted he had doubted whe🍨ther Piastri would be able to pull off the manoeuvre from such a long way back.

"When I watched the move live and I saw him going to the inside, my instinct said he is going to go long," Stella said. "But that's why I want to emphasise the precision Oscar showed in the 𒅌execution on the inside apex kerb in corner one. I was surprised by the move, but Oscar is always surprising us with his talent and ability.”

Intelligent defending

Immediatelyꩵ after snatching first placᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe, attack switched to defence mode, with Piastri covering off Leclerc on the short blast to Turn 2. In order to secure the win, Piastri had to keep Leclerc at bay for 31 laps and resist several attempts from the Ferrari man to seize back the lead.

Despite Leclerc repeatedly having the aid of DRS, Piastri forced his rival to the outside of Turn 1 on each occasion he looked to power past. A combination of how Piastri positioned his car, as well as the stro🎉ng traction from his McLaren while exiting Turn 1, ultimately proved crucial to thwarting Leclerc.

Asked if Piastri’s defence against Leclerc highlighted the strengths of McLaren’s car or their driver, Stella replied: “I think it is a combination. Ninety percent is Oscar’s judgement and the most difficult one is the first one, because when you do the first of these ki✤nds of manoeuvres, actually you don’t have references.

Oscar Piastri and McLaren boss Andrea Stella
Oscar Piastri and McLaren boss Andrea Stella

“So I think after the first one he would have found references and later on it became easier for him. But when you do it the first time you have to ꦗjudge things very precisely not to be undercut on the way to Turn 2 or the next DRS zone to Turn 3.

“I think where the car comes to Oscar’s advantage is that the car has good traction. We know that our rear end is good, especially when you are around 100 km/h or more, which is where you are in Turn 1. And I think this is definitely something Oscar did exploit, but it wouldn’t have worked wit🍃hout precision from a driving point of view.”

Mental strength under pressure

Piastri described Sunday’s race as the “most stressful afternoon” of his life - not that 𒆙you wou🌱ld have known from the outside. He was measured and collected behind the steering wheel, displaying the kind of unflappable nature we have now come to expect from him.

Aside from anꩲ eye-catching synchronised slide out of the ꦍfinal corner with Leclerc on Lap 42 - demonstrating just how hard both drivers were pushing around Baku’s unforgiving streets in the pursuit of victory - and a couple of slight glances with the barriers, no obvious mistake was made.

It was Piastri’s mental resilience, under intense pressure while🧜 driving one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar, which impressed McLaren the most.

"I woulꦓd say today he also gave a demonstration of his mental strength,” Stella said. “He drove like a driver with a lot of experience who has been under🌠 this kind of pressure before.

“That he can look at one eye with the mirror and the other at where the bra🅺king point is and he did it again and again with a great level of precis🍸ion and very controlled, even when he was talking on the radio he was very under control. So a phenomenal driver and a brilliant drive today.”

Piastri, who claimed back-to-back titles in F3 and F2 on his meteoric rise to F1, acknowledged this was the defining drive of his relatively-short career to date: “I think that ranks as probably the best win of my caree𝓀r.”

The ominous concern for his rivals, including McLaren teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris, is that Piastri is only going to get better f🌺rom here. 

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

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