Norris maintains momentum in Piastri’s shadow as Red Bull woes persist

Norris fights back to keep title hopes alive

The main topic of discussion on Thursday’s media day in Baku was undoubtedly Norris’ title bid and more specifically, McLaren having finally said they were willing to use team orders to prioritise the Brit over his team-mate Piastri.

The noise around the topic had reached new heights after Piastri’s aggressive move around the outside of Norris on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix two weeks earlier ultimately cost the Brit victory and the team a one-two.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella basically confirmed that there would be no repeat of that incident and that “50-50 calls” would go Norris’ way, although confusion appeared to remain – both inside and outside of the team – as to how exactly this would work out.

Ultimately, the challenge of navigating that issue was taken away from Stella, but not in circumstances he would have hoped for.

Norris, having left himself vulnerable in Q1, was highly unfortunate to come across a yellow flag during a final flying lap that was almost certainly going to be good enough to get him through to the next stage.

It wasn’t immediately clear what had happened, but Norris had, correctly according to the rulebook, immediately slowed down when seeing a yellow flag warning flash up on his steering wheel, triggered by the slow-moving Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

Some in the paddock felt the McLaren driver may have been to hasty in giving up his lap, and could have taken a little more risk, got himself through, and dealt with the consequences later.

George Russell faced a similar – but not quite identical – situation later in the session, failed to slow down for the yellow flags and got away with a reprimand. We’ll never know if Norris may have been able to make a similar escape.

It was a disaster, with Norris clearly distraught in the immediate aftermath. However, having gained a couple of places on the grid due to penalties elsewhere, he was raring to go from 15th on the grid by Sunday afternoon.

From there, it was pretty much faultless driving as he made a great start but also took care of his hard tyres as he surged through the field. He ended up in the perfect position to provide a crucial assist to Piastri, holding up Perez to ensure the other McLaren wasn’t undercut by the Red Bull.

There was no timely Safety Car to launch Norris into contention, but his pace was such that he was able to hunt down Verstappen, more on him in a moment, and ease past him in the closing stages to remarkably make a gain in the title race.

The three points he gained on Verstappen from finishing fourth and setting the fastest lap were minimal, but ensured he will arrive in Singapore later this week with momentum and positivity.

Norris may end up looking back on Baku qualifying as one of several moments where the title slipped from his grasp, but he showed superb mental strength and driving ability to bounce back and keep the title race very much alive for the neutrals.

Piastri’s killer instinct on show once more

The quiet sub-text to McLaren’s hesitance to back Norris’ bid for the drivers’ title has been that they don’t want to upset Piastri and the Australian’s camp, led by wily former racer Marc Webber.

Some have criticised them for that approach and failing to seize the moment, but Sunday’s performance from Piastri perhaps went some way to explaining why Stella is so wary of giving the second-year driver any reason to consider going elsewhere in future.

The 23-year-old showed his willingness to go for – and ability to execute – bold overtakes with his pass on Norris at Monza, but Leclerc apparently failed to get the memo.

Piastri started second to Leclerc but after applying some early pressure, dropped more than five seconds back with his hopes of victory appearing to fade.

Having got his hard tyres fired up after stopping, and his track position having been protected by Norris, Piastri sensed a brief window of opportunity to pass Leclerc and dived up the inside from way back at Turn 1.

It was a move Stella admitted after the race that his “instincts” told him wouldn’t stick, but Piastri slowed and positioned his car with remarkable precision to complete the move that would ultimately decide the outcome.

While he had gotten ahead, there was still a lot of work to do with the slightly faster Ferrari applying intense pressure for much of the remaining 32 laps.

It looked on several occasions as though Leclerc was going to wear Piastri down, but the Australian defied his lack of experience of such situations to calmly defend until the tyres on the Ferrari eventually gave in late on.

After all the noise around team orders before the race, it was a statement drive from Piastri that will have only strengthened a growing feeling around the paddock that a future world champion is developing before our eyes.

A weird weekend for Red Bull

For so many months, Red Bull have been desperately waiting for Perez to find some form.

It finally happened at a track where he is the only F1 driver to have won twice. But would the team have taken it had they known it would come at the expense of a drop-off in form from their title contender, Verstappen?

After a miserable outing in Monza, Red Bull appeared to have found some form on Friday in Baku as Verstappen spoke positively following a decent practice showing.

However, his remarkable run of having out-qualified Perez on 33 successive occasions came to an end after some ultimately poor choices on car setup left the Dutchman struggling.

Perez took a morale-boosting fourth with Verstappen sixth, and both would pull off impressive passes to gain a place on the opening lap of the race.

But from there, their afternoons were very different. Perez showed strong pace to cling onto the battle at the front between Piastri and Leclerc, and if it hadn’t been for Norris’ teamwork, would have emerged from the pit stops second and with a decent chance of passing Leclerc for victory.

Perez patiently stalked the battle for the lead throughout the second stint and finally appeared to be reaping some reward late on as Leclerc’s tyres started to fall away.

Unfortunately for the Mexican, some mighty defence from Leclerc forced Perez wide, allowing the other Ferrari of Sainz, who had closed up behind, to dive into third.

Sainz then ran wide into the next corner and Perez looked well placed to recapture third, only for the pair to come together at high speed as they accelerated and slam into the barrier, taking them both out of the race.

The stewards decided no penalty was necessary, but the consensus in the paddock was that it was Sainz, if anyone, who had drifted left and been more responsible for causing the collision.

Perez missed out on the podium his weekend deserved, but did at least produce a drive that shows he, and Red Bull, have the potential to be competitive for the remainder of the season.

That was also about the most Verstappen could take away from the weekend as he rued setup choices that left him unhappy with his brakes and unable to look after his tyres.

The Dutchman is now seven races without a win with no sign of that run ending, and needs urgent help in the form of upgrades or finding a better balance in the RB20 if he is to make it four titles in a row.

On a week where Red Bull’s outgoing legendary designer Adrian Newey’s decision to join Aston Martin was confirmed, the end of empire feeling that has surrounded Red Bull for many months grows stronger than ever.

Ferrari surge as Mercedes falter, Bearman impresses

On recent form, McLaren’s most likely challenger for the constructors’ title would be Ferrari rather than Red Bull.

The upgrades that enabled Leclerc’s victory at the Italian Grand Prix proved to be more than just a ‘Monza special’, and they should really have had a win and two cars on the podium.

Worryingly for the rest of the pack, it’s in Singapore where rivals are expecting Ferrari to be strongest, with the red cars almost certain to be in the battle for victory again come Sunday under the lights.

After a summer of discontent, Ferrari have done well to get back in the mix, but the true test will come at the six races that follow Singapore, which will reveal whether they have a car that can compete for wins away from certain circuits that suit it.

In contrast, Mercedes have gone backwards after producing three wins in three races before the summer break.

Lewis Hamilton was once more at a loss to explain his qualifying woes as a promising Friday failed to carry over to Saturday, with an underwhelming seventh on the grid leading him to decide this was the right moment to take the hit of a penalty for a new engine, and start the race from the pit lane.

While Hamilton’s Sunday was little better than his Saturday as he salvaged a few points, George Russell was at least able to claim an unlikely podium in third after the late crash.

Russell was mystified by the swings in his car’s performance after the race, having struggled on his first stint before producing highly competitive speed on his second.

Mercedes have been going back and forth with an unsuccessful floor upgrade they brought to Spa in July, and team boss Toto Wolff confirmed after the race that they expect to have a new version ready for Austin next month. We might have to wait until then to see them back in the mix.

Away from the battle at the front, there were highly creditable performances from the two rookies in action.

Britain’s Oliver Bearman, filling in for the banned Kevin Magnussen, equipped himself brilliantly on his full Haas debut, out-qualifying and finishing ahead of highly experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg despite crashing out of final practice.

Bearman’s 10th place meant that he has scored points in both of his F1 races after standing in for Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia earlier this season.

Bearman has been signed to drive for Haas next season, but his display may have team principal Ayao Komatsu considering getting the teenager permanently into Magnussen’s seat before the 2024 campaign is done.

Franco Colapinto also deserves high praise for taking advantage of a fast Williams to score his first F1 points in just his second race.

The Argentine bounced back impressively from crashing in first practice to produce a strong weekend, and is doing his hopes of sealing a full-time F1 drive in the future absolutely no harm at all.

Just a few days until the fun continues in Singapore!

Formula 1’s thrilling 2024 season continues live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend with more stunning street circuit action, this time under the lights at the Singapore Grand Prix. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime