McLaren leads the F1 standings, like we all predicted. Plus, judging the big Baku crash

Prime Tire Newsletter

Welcome back to Prime Tire, where we’re wondering why the radio message where Lando Norris called his engineer “you muppet” is so funny. I’ve listened to it at least 20 times. Send help.

Lando and Will with the banter 😂#F1 #AzerbaijanGP @McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/5h8ps6sx9Y

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 16, 2024

Anyway, Oscar Piastri’s win at the Azerbaijan GP sure left us with a lot to talk about. I’m Patrick, and Madeline Coleman will be along shortly. Let’s get to it.

Hello. McLaren is leading the championship

Two things:

McLaren leads the constructors’ championship for the first time since 2014.
For the first time in 862 days, Red Bull is not leading the championship.

I have to be honest. I’m finding it hard to process this seismic moment in F1 — a sport where dominance is often the norm—especially considering how historically dominant Red Bull was just a season ago. The fact that McLaren is leading the championship and Red Bull is not is a significant thing to wake up to.

But we’ve also seen the change coming for weeks now. We’ve arrived at the moment nobody could have predicted a year ago, or even back in April, and it feels so … inevitable, to the point of mundanity. Talk Monday seemed to revolve around the late-race crash, Red Bull’s floor or McLaren’s rear wing (more on that Friday).

McLaren leads the championship. Where were the klaxons?

Adaptation is, perhaps, humanity’s greatest trait. The whole context in which we live can suddenly shift, and we adapt so quickly that we sometimes lose appreciation for just how different things are. It’s how people get through the most challenging and harrowing times, so it’s bemusing to feel it happening around something as trivial as F1.

But it is! A year ago this time, the title fight was over. It was almost impossible to imagine Red Bull’s reign ending anytime soon:

McLaren’s rise and Red Bull’s fall

Team	2024	2023	YOY Change
McLaren	476	219	257
Red Bull	456	657	-201
Ferrari	425	298	127
Mercedes	309	326	-17
Aston Martin	82	230	-150
RB	34	5	29
Haas	29	12	17
Williams	16	23	-7
Alpine	13	90	-77
Sauber	0	16	-16

Now? Now, the F1 picture has transformed. The questions and headlines are now:

Will McLaren maintain its lead?
Can Red Bull fend off Ferrari and mount a comeback?
Oscar Piastri‘s rise as one of the sport’s best.
Charles Leclerc and Norris racking up wins.
And, amazingly, will Sergio Pérez outperform Verstappen some weekends?

I’m reminded of a line from one of my favorite books:

“The huge moments in life seemed like they should have more ceremony and effects. The important words — the life-changing ones — should echo a little. But they didn’t. They sounded just like everything else.”

Piastri is a two-time grand prix winner (and possibly elite). McLaren leads with seven races to go. Verstappen might be no faster some weeks than his rivals. These facts arrived without ceremony, without effect. Whether or not we clocked it, we’ve all spent months adapting to this new landscape as it formed around us.

So maybe I shouldn’t be so perplexed by the lack of ❗️❗️emojis flying around today. The F1 title race is on. I didn’t expect it in the spring, but it’s here. It arrived right on time. We march on — to Singapore and toward a thrilling final few months.

Azerbaijan GP coverage

Essential stories you should read from the weekend:

Verstappen & Norris’ latest F1 title bout in Azerbaijan looks like a draw – for now.
Breaking down Piastri and Leclerc’s battle for the win.
Piastri’s win in Baku was a world-class, coming-of-age drive.

Is Pérez or Sainz to blame for that Baku crash?

It’s been a minute since we’ve gotten to break out the gavel. I’m excited!

Plaintiff: Sergio “Checo” Pérez

Defendant: Carlos “Smooth Operator” Sainz

The Incident: On the penultimate lap of the race, Sainz got understeer in Turn 3, letting Pérez slip beneath him on the exit. The drivers both tried to stay behind Leclerc ahead to take advantage of his slipstream. They got halfway down the straight before crashing:

Sparks fly on the streets of Baku! 💥😱

This moment between Sainz and Perez effectively ended the race, and cost both the chance of a podium!#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/iR6UTynvpv

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2024

What the plaintiff said: “I felt that exiting Turn 2, there was plenty of room between both cars and within a meter or two, we ended up making contact… It all happened so quickly.”

What the defendant said: “We normally do a slight drift towards the left into the long straight, which I did like every other lap, and suddenly, for some reason, I don’t understand, Checo and I collided…”

Verdict: This court sides with the stewards and finds neither driver at fault. Sainz had to drift back onto the track from where he exited onto the straight. Checo had the right to hold his line. They drifted a little and collided. That’s racing. Sometimes justice is boring, people.

Let’s throw it over to Madeline in the paddock.

Inside the Paddock with Madeline Coleman

George Russell did not expect to finish on the podium in Azerbaijan.

He qualified fifth, and Mercedes “thought we could probably fight for P5.” It’s also key to remember that a few drivers were out of their typical qualifying positions: Norris started P15 and Verstappen P6. But the race unfolded in a peculiar way for Russell.

“We were really slow in the first stint. I was about one and a half seconds slower than Charles most laps. And it all felt pretty disastrous,” Russell said Sunday. “But then, the last 20 laps of the race, we were a second lap quicker than Piastri and Charles and three or four tenths quicker than Max and Carlos and Checo. So I’m sort of a bit frazzled as to why that is. The only difference is going from a yellow tire to a white tire.”

It starkly contrasts Mercedes’ upward trajectory earlier this season, when it secured three wins out of four races before the summer break. Russell only ended up with a third-place finish in Baku because of the Sainz-Pérez wreck on the penultimate lap.