Oscar Piastri’s second career victory in last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix means McLaren have achieved a unique record this year.
Both the team’s drivers have scored the first two world championship grand prix wins of their career in the same season. This has never previously happened, with the exception of the unique circumstances of the first ever world championship, when the chances of it occuring were inevitably far higher.
Piastri is the 81st driver in F1 history to win more than one grand prix – a fitting achievement given his race number. He became the seventh different driver to win in Baku and the sixth different winner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix (the first race at this track was called the European Grand Prix). Sergio Perez remains the only driver to have won this event twice, under any title.
Lando Norris set the fastest lap, the 10th time he has done so in his career, putting him level with a trio of world champions: Graham Hill, John Surtees and Mario Andretti.
Norris’ 11-place climb to fourth was the best improvement any driver has made on their starting position all year, one better than Lewis Hamilton managed in the same race (having effectively started 19th in the pits ahead of Esteban Ocon). Norris also gained places on the first lap, something he hasn’t managed in any other grand prix so far this season.
After the first 10 rounds of the year, when Red Bull had won seven times and Mercedes were win-less, it looked very much like the Milton Keynes team would equal the wins tally of their Brackley rivals sometime soon. At that stage Red Bull had won 120 rounds to Mercedes’ 125. However Red Bull can no longer catch them this year, having taken no further victories since then while Mercedes have triumphed three times.
For the fourth year in a row Charles Leclerc took pole position in Azerbaijan but was denied victory. This was the 22nd time he’s failed to win from pole position: His strike rate is just 15.3%. He has as many pole positions as Mika Hakkinen, who converted 10 of his.
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Even if Perez hadn’t tangled with Carlos Sainz Jnr on the penultimate lap, putting both out, McLaren were already on course to take the constructors’ championship lead off Red Bull. Thus ended Red Bull’s 833-day reign at the top of the standings.
Just as when…
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