Oscar Piastri's Bold Pass on Charles Leclerc Secures Second Victory and McLaren's Championship Lead

Oscar Piastri secured his second career victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a bold pass on pole sitter Charles Leclerc in the first corner on lap 20. Piastri had a run on the opening straight and went wide into the first corner to cleanly and boldly pass Leclerc. The young Australian driver would then drive away with the lead and keep control until the end.

"I had to go for it," Piastri told Sky Sports. "I knew if I didn’t get past at the start of the stint, I was never going to get past. I went for a pretty big lunge and managed to hold on for dear life for the last 35 laps."

Leclerc, who expected a chance to reclaim the lead later in the race, admitted that the race was lost when he failed to defend the pass on lap 20.

"I think when Oscar overtook me," Leclerc explained. "I thought it was just a matter of staying calm and trying to keep those tires and overtake him again later on, but actually, it was a lot more difficult than that. The straights, I couldn’t go and get as close as I wanted. We lost the race where I didn’t defend as well as I should’ve at the end of the race."

A few laps earlier, while Leclerc and Piastri were battling up front, Piastri's teammate Lando Norris was able to undercut Sergio Perez by staying in front of him as Perez ended his pit cycle; the Red Bull driver was the race's true third-place driver at the time and could've been a challenger to Piastri earlier on if not caught further back.

"Thanks, I didn’t hold him up," Norris explained the move from his angle on the post-race show. "I just had to cool my tires a bit more, and that seemed to allow us to get ahead of Checo. I did my part today as a team player. To come away with a first and a fourth was not what we were expecting today, but it was obviously a great result for the team. It put us on top as a constructor; for the first time in 10 years, that’s been the case."

With Piastri's win and Norris's bounceback, McLaren finds itself in the lead of the Constructor Standings for the first time since 2014. McLaren now leads Red Bull by 20 points.

On the flip side, with Red Bull falling to second in the standings, this is the first time they haven't led in two years.

"Considering where we started when I joined the team last year, we were literally last, and now we’re leading the World Championship," Piastri told Sky Sports about securing the lead. "Full credit to the team for the turnaround we’ve had in the 18 months here. First, in terms of improving the car but helping me improve as well. Results like this definitely were not possible 12 months ago for myself."

After failing to advance out of Q1 and starting 17th, Norris would go on to finish fourth, passing his World Driver's Championship opponent Max Verstappen and, against all odds, cutting the lead from 62 to 59 points as he secured the fastest lap of the race as well.

With two laps remaining, Sergio Perez, who was fast all weekend and attempting to end his 11-race podiumless streak, attempted to pass Leclerc but couldn't clear. His attempt opened up a hole for Leclerc's Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz to slip through.

Desperate to reclaim a podium, Perez, while racing Sainz down the straight, attempted to get an advantage from Leclerc's slipstream and drifted too close to Sainz's Ferrari, pulling the two race vehicles together and crashing into the wall, ending the Grand Prix for both drivers and bringing out a virtual safety car for the final lap and a half.

Mercedes' George Russell inherited the final step on the podium with the WDC competitors Norris and Verstappen behind him.

Fernando Alonso secured his sixth-place finish for Aston Martin.

Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto finished seventh and eighth for the first double points for Williams this season. One spot behind was Lewis Hamilton.

Ollie Bearman, filling in for Kevin Magnussen at Haas after the veteran driver was suspended one race for collecting 20 penalty points, finished in the points.

This is the second time that Bearman has finished in the points in his second career race. Bearman finished seventh in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when he filled in for Sainz at Ferrari.

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