Oscar Piastri arrives on the big stage in style

Oscar Piastri almost tripped as he stood atop his papaya coloured McLaren to celebrate his incredible win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. Barring that slip, the 23-year-old did nothing wrong on a bright afternoon in the ‘City of Winds’ as he delivered one of the finest wins in recent Formula 1 history.

The Australian’s win was not just any victory but was a statement of his arrival at the big stage. Only 18 months old in the top-tier of the sport, Piastri first overtook Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in an audacious yet daring move to move into the lead and then absorbed relentless pressure for almost two-thirds of the 51-lap race to earn his second win in Formula 1.

It was especially the last half hour of the race which made Piastri’s performance even more impressive. With Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in third place joining in the party, it became a three-way fight for the lead of the race.

But Piastri, despite the older hard compound tyres, hung in there, defending magnificently, positioning his car in the right spots to block the advances of a driver with much more experience and race wins.

Despite Piastri’s expert defence, especially down the 2.2km start-finish straight, Leclerc came especially close to overtaking the Australian into Turn 1 and 2 but Piastri was aggressive yet was a gentleman to give enough racing room to still keep the lead.

It was brilliant and captivating, racing that all motorsport fans look forward to come Race Day. Despite such less experience, Piastri showed maturity beyond his age to earn his eighth podium in F1, displaying why he is so highly regarded in the sport.

His brilliant show has led former F1 winner and compatriot Mark Webber to say that it was one of the best drives he has seen.

“The whole year he’s been very consistent, very quick in all conditions and I think, yeah that was one of the best drives I’ve ever seen him pull off,” Webber, a nine-time race winner, told Sky Sports F1.

“Under a lot of pressure, very defensive decisive in the move itself and up against a world class driver – Charles (Leclerc) around here is absolutely magical so to beat him around here is a pretty big deal.”

For 31 successive laps, Piastri defended against Leclerc, who had Drag Reduction System (DRS) available for most of the race, making his car go faster in the straights.

This expectational win will also end questions raised by certain sections in F1 about his abilities especially after his maiden win in Hungary in controversial circumstances when teammate Lando Norris handed him the lead towards the end of the race.

“I knew that if I didn’t get past at the start of the stint, I was never going to get past, so I went for a pretty big lunge but managed to pull it off and then hang on for dear life for the next 35 laps,” said Piastri, who has scored the most number of points in the last seven races.

“The last couple of laps, once (Leclerc) dropped out of DRS, were a little bit more relaxing, but there’s no such thing as a relaxing lap around here, so it was hard work. It definitely goes down as one of the better races of my career.”

Piastri’s win and Norris’ fourth place finish also took McLaren to the top of the constructors’ standings, ending Red Bull’s dominance at the top, marking the first time they have led the championship since 2014.

McLaren being on top means Red Bull have lost the constructors’ lead for the first time in 55 races or 847 days. They led the championship from the Spanish Grand Prix in 2022 till now.

With 91 points between him and championship leader Max Verstappen, Piastri may be out of reckoning for the race to the title, but he has clearly shown he is a champion in the making, racing as quickly and consistently as teammate Norris, who is the only real championship contender for the current world champion this season.