Oscar Piastri is no stranger to high-stakes drama, but as the Formula One circus descends on Baku for the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the young Australian finds himself at the eye of a storm swirling with controversy, history, and the tantalizing prospect of making motorsport history. With a 31-point cushion atop the drivers’ championship and McLaren perched on the brink of an unprecedented early constructors’ title, all eyes are on Piastri, his teammate Lando Norris, and the papaya-clad squad from Woking.
The tension has been simmering since Monza. There, in a move that sent shockwaves through the paddock and set social media alight, McLaren ordered Piastri to cede position to Norris after the Briton’s slow pit stop. The decision, seen by some as team favoritism and by others as prudent strategy, cost Piastri precious points but did little to shake his confidence or his standing atop the championship. Asked about the backlash and the so-called place-swap controversy, Piastri was as cool as ever. “I feel like a lot of fans are quite quick to jump on things that are deemed controversial,” he remarked, according to The Nightly. “I’m not that surprised but I do think we have enough freedom to control our own destiny in the championship.”
That freedom, it turns out, has been the subject of intense internal discussion at McLaren. Piastri, always the consummate team player, acknowledged the “good discussions” that followed the Monza incident. He insisted that the team has clarified how they want to go racing in the future, with less intervention and more trust in their drivers’ abilities. “We’ve had good discussions with the team,” Piastri told Fox Sports. “Obviously it was a highly talked about moment. We’ve had a lot of discussions, clarified a lot of things, and we know how we’re going to go racing going forward, which is the most important thing. What’s happened is done, and I’m excited to go racing again.”
Pressed on whether the team would relax its grip once the constructors’ title was secured, Piastri dropped a telling hint: “Not necessarily because of the constructors championship, but I think, again, we’ve had a lot of discussions about how we want to go racing. A lot of that is to stay for us because if we give out that information, then we become very easy targets to pick off because everyone knows what we’re going to do. It’s all very aligned with all of us, but it stays in-house.”
While the Monza saga continues to generate debate among fans and pundits, the numbers speak for themselves. McLaren has been nothing short of dominant in 2025, with Piastri and Norris splitting 12 wins from 16 rounds—a feat that has propelled the team to more than double the points tally of second-placed Ferrari. The math is simple: if McLaren outscores Ferrari by at least nine points in Baku and holds off any significant surges from Mercedes or Red Bull, the British squad will clinch its 10th constructors’ championship. If they pull it off, it will be the earliest title win in Formula One history, with a staggering seven races still to go after Azerbaijan.
For Piastri, the prospect of such an early triumph is almost surreal. “Last season went down to the final race and an eventful final race as well. There is much more of a sense of inevitability this year which is an amazing position to be in and is a testament to everyone in the team—and I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive the car,” he said. “It is a remarkable position that we are in, to be talking about clinching the constructors’ championship this early. It is a very proud moment for everybody, myself included.”
McLaren’s resurgence is all the more remarkable given its recent history. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix holds special significance for the team, having marked their return to the top of the constructors’ standings in 2024 after a decade-long drought. Team principal Andrea Stella reflected on the occasion: “It’s an event which still holds special relevance for us. While competition remains close with multiple teams contending for victories, we remain focused on our own performance and feel well prepared for the weekend ahead.”
Baku, with its unique blend of long straights and technical corners, is a circuit that suits McLaren’s strengths. Last year, Piastri took a sensational victory, while Norris staged a remarkable comeback from 15th on the grid to finish fourth. The team’s adaptability and strategic nous have only grown since then, making them favorites to seal the deal this weekend. Yet, as Formula One so often reminds us, nothing is guaranteed until the checkered flag falls.
Standing in McLaren’s way is a cast of rivals hungry to spoil the party. Chief among them is Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, a qualifying maestro with an uncanny knack for Baku’s demanding layout. Leclerc has taken four poles in Azerbaijan but has never converted one into victory—a statistic that both baffles and frustrates the Monegasque. “I don’t really have a strong answer to it,” Leclerc admitted last year. “I guess it just goes with my driving style very naturally. Most of the time you have to work a lot to try and gain lap time, but I just feel good with the rhythm of this track for some reason, and that makes it a particularly good track for me.”
Despite his speed, Leclerc’s Baku record reads like a litany of near-misses: fourth, DNF, third, second. His struggle to translate pole positions into wins is emblematic of Ferrari’s broader challenges—fast over a lap, but often unable to sustain that pace across a race distance. Still, few would bet against Leclerc threatening the front row once again, and perhaps this is the year he breaks his Baku hoodoo.
Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing enters the weekend with renewed optimism under new team principal Laurent Mekies. Max Verstappen’s emphatic win at Monza signaled a potential turnaround for the team, which has struggled to match its own lofty standards this season. Verstappen credited Mekies’ engineering background for asking “commonsense questions” and helping the team find its footing. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko echoed the sentiment, expressing hope for strong performances in both Baku and the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix. “For Baku, the fast circuits, I’m very optimistic,” Marko told Autosport. “I am hopeful for Singapore, the only race we didn’t win [with Verstappen so far]. Normally on slow circuits [we struggle], but I believe now everything is possible in this period.”
With seven races left after Baku, the championship storylines are far from settled. Will McLaren make history and wrap up the constructors’ crown with time to spare? Can Piastri maintain his composure and fend off Norris’s challenge for the drivers’ title? Will Leclerc finally convert his Baku speed into a win, or can Red Bull’s resurgence throw another twist into the tale?
As the sun sets over the Caspian Sea and engines roar through Baku’s city streets, the stage is set for a weekend that could redefine the 2025 Formula One season. The action is still unfolding, but one thing is certain: the battle for glory is far from over, and the world will be watching every turn.
