The 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2024) was a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

motor race held on 15 September 2024 at the

Baku City Circuit The Baku City Circuit () is a motor racing street circuit located in Baku, Azerbaijan constructed near Baku Boulevard. A lap of the circuit is , making it the fourth-longest circuit on the Formula One calendar (after Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. It was the seventeenth round of the

2024 Formula One World Championship The 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula One cars and was the 75th running of the Formula One World Championship. It was recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the gov ...

Charles Leclerc Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver who competes in Formula One for Ferrari. Leclerc was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Ferrari, and has won Grands ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

took pole position for the event for the fourth year in a row, but lost out to

Oscar Piastri Oscar Jack Piastri ( ; born 6 April 2001) is an Australian racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Piastri has won Formula One Grands Prix across three seasons. Born and raised in Melbourne, Piastri began his career in radio-co ...

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

for the win and finished second, as Piastri took his second win in Formula One. George Russell inherited the final podium slot after Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. and

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, competing under an Austrian racing licence and based in ...

Sergio Pérez Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza (; born 26 January 1990) is a Mexican racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Pérez was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Red Bull, and won Gr ...

both crashed out on the penultimate lap while fighting for third and took themselves out of the race.

Lando Norris Lando Norris (; born 13 November 1999) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Norris was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and has won Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix ...

recovered from a fifteenth-place start to finish fourth and take the fastest lap, one position over championship rival

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he w ...

. This resulted in McLaren taking the lead in the Constructors' Championship ahead of

, the first time they had led the Constructors' Championship since the

2014 Australian Grand Prix The 2014 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 16 March 2014 in Melbourne. The race was contested over 58 laps of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit ...

Franco Colapinto Franco Alejandro Colapinto (; born 27 May 2003) is an Argentine racing driver who competes in Formula One for Alpine F1 Team, Alpine. Born and raised in Pilar, Buenos Aires, Colapinto began competitive kart racing aged nine, winning several reg ...

of Williams became the first

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

driver to score a point since

Carlos Reutemann Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentine racing driver and politician, who competed in Formula One from to and served as the Governor of Santa Fe from 1999 to 2003. Reutemann was runner-up in the Form ...

at the

1982 South African Grand Prix The 1982 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 23 January 1982. It was the first race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship. It was the 28th edition of the South African Grand Prix and the 16th time th ...

Background

The event was held at the

for the eighth time in the circuit's history, having previously held one edition of the

European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...

in , across the weekend of 13–15 September. Including the aforementioned European Grand Prix, which was held in June, this was the first Azerbaijan Grand Prix to be run in September, taking the place of the

Japanese Grand Prix The Japanese Grand Prix () is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Grand Prix has been the venue for many title-de ...

which moved to April from its traditional schedule between September and November; previous editions of the race ran during the first half of the season, between April and June. The move was part of Formula One's regionalisation efforts, scheduling the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as the first round after the European races. The Grand Prix was the seventeenth round of the

and the seventh running of the

Azerbaijan Grand Prix The Azerbaijan Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event that was held for the first time in . It is held on the Baku City Circuit, a street circuit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The event is due to take place at the Baku City Ci ...

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend,

led the Drivers' Championship with 303 points, 62 points ahead of

in second, and 86 ahead of

in third.

, with 446 points, led the Constructors' Championship from

and

, who are second and third with 438 and 407 points, respectively.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with two exceptions:

replaced

Logan Sargeant Logan Hunter Sargeant (born December 31, 2000) is an American racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Sargeant is the nephew of billionaire business magnate Harry Sargean ...

at Williams from the preceding

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix () is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, motor racing Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921 ...

onwards, while

Kevin Magnussen Kevin Jan Magnussen (; born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for W Racing Team, WRT and the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, RLL as a factory driver f ...

of Haas was given a one-race ban at the previous round, having caused a collision that put him over the limit of twelve penalty points within twelve months. Magnussen was replaced by reserve driver

Oliver Bearman Oliver James Bearman (; born 8 May 2005) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Haas F1 Team, Haas. Born in London and raised in Chelmsford, Bearman began competitive kart racing aged seven, winning several national and cont ...

, who had last competed at the

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix () is an annual Formula One motor racing event which took place for the first time in 2021. The inaugural edition of the race was held in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, where it is schedule ...

earlier in the season when he was substituted in for

Tyre choices

Sole tyre supplier

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer based in the city of Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 1922, is the 5th-largest tyre manufacturer, and is focused on the consumer pro ...

brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the three softest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at this event.

Track changes

The DRS zone leading in to turn 1 was extended by .

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 13 September 2024, at 13:30 local time (

UTC+4 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communicat ...

), and was topped by

ahead of

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

of Mercedes and Verstappen's teammate

. The session saw three red flags be flown, the first for debris, the second for an accident involving

at turn 15, and the third for a crash involving

of Williams at turn 4. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time, and was topped by Leclerc ahead of Pérez and Hamilton. The third practice session was held on 14 September 2024, at 12:30 local time, and was topped by George Russell of Mercedes ahead of Leclerc and

. The session was red-flagged twice; firstly for

Esteban Ocon Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane (; born 17 September 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Haas F1 Team, Haas. Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine F1 Team, Alpine. Born and raised in Normandy to ...

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

stopping on track due to an engine issue, secondly for

of Haas crashing at turn 1.

Qualifying

Qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

was held on 14 September 2024, at 16:00 local time (

Qualifying classification

Notes * –

qualified seventh, but was required to start the race from the pit lane for replacing power unit elements without the approval of the technical delegate during

parc fermé ''Parc fermé'', literally meaning "closed park" in French, is a secure area at a motor racing circuit where the cars are kept at some times during a race meeting in order to prevent modifications. Area According to the FIA Formula One regulati ...

. * –

Zhou Guanyu Zhou Guanyu (, pronounced ; born 30 May 1999) is a Chinese racing driver, who serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Zhou competed in Formula One from to , and remains the only Chinese driver to compete in For ...

was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. * –

qualified 19th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane for replacing power unit elements without the approval of the technical delegate during parc fermé. * –

Pierre Gasly Pierre Jean-Jacques Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Alpine. Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix with AlphaTauri. Born and raised in Normandy, Gasly began competitive kart racing age ...

initially qualified 13th, but was subsequently disqualified as his car exceeded the instantaneous fuel mass flow limit in Q2. He was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.

Race

The race was held on 15 September 2024, at 15:00 local time (

), and was run for 51 laps.

Race report

The race was won by

, who took his second career win.

and George Russell, driving for Mercedes, rounded out the podium. McLaren's other driver,

, obtained the fastest lap point and recovered from his fifteenth place start to finish fourth. With

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

driver

finishing fifth, and his teammate

retiring, Red Bull lost the lead of the Constructors' championship to McLaren, marking the first time since the 2022 Miami Grand Prix that Red Bull did not lead the Constructors' Championship, and the first time that McLaren led the Constructors' Championship since the

. Both Williams drivers scored a season-best finish of seventh and eighth, respectively, marking their best finish since the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, and

's four points made him the first

driver to score a point since

at the

. The race was neutralised on lap 50 after a collision, later deemed a shared-fault racing incident by the stewards, between Carlos Sainz Jr. and

, causing both to retire and the race to end under the virtual safety car.

Race classification

Notes * – Includes one point for fastest lap. * –

, Carlos Sainz Jr. and

Lance Stroll Lance Strulovitch (; born 29 October 1998), commonly known as Lance Stroll (), is a Canadian racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin. Born and raised in Montreal, Stroll is the son of billionaire businessman Lawrence Stroll ...

were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links

{{F1GP 2020–29

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...