Oscar Piastri is free to fight for victory in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix without any fear of team orders from McLaren. The Australian driver qualified on the front row, putting him in a prime position to challenge Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for the win. This comes after his teammate, Lando Norris, suffered a setback in qualifying and ended up in 17th place.
The build-up to the race in Baku had been dominated by the controversy surrounding McLaren’s handling of the previous race in Italy. At Monza, Piastri and Norris locked out the front row in qualifying, but ultimately lost out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Norris, who is currently second in the championship standings, had agreed to help his teammate if needed in Italy. However, that situation is unlikely to arise in Baku given Norris’s disappointing qualifying result.
Asked if he now had the green light to go all out for victory, Piastri said: “Definitely. We can be very optimistic from where we’re starting. Our pace is good but Ferrari is not slow either, so it should be a very exciting race. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella praised Piastri’s performance, stating: “Very strong to be P2 at this track, only beaten by Leclerc who is a specialist and has done a few pole positions at this circuit. It shows that the car is competitive in all conditions and it shows the maturity and the speed of Oscar.”
Stella added: “The bitter element is that the other car is at the back of the grid… we will try and do our best to get back to the points and minimize the impact.”
With Piastri free to push for the win and Norris starting from the back of the grid, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix promises to be an intriguing race for McLaren. The team will be hoping that Piastri can capitalize on his excellent starting position and challenge Ferrari for the victory.
