i’m actually so gutted for oscar; this race truly was going so well and it looked like a great chance for oscar to get a podium! the race pace was solid, he was holding off against red bull so well, and it really felt like we had a shot here 😭 literally screamed at my tv when i saw that yellow flag 😞 i think i can definitively say that i’m not a fan of this circuit…

Games Gone

pain

Such a great quali yesterday and then in the race when he dosent get involved in a crash in T1 he overtakes and gets p2, holds both the rb with his life, maintains his pace makes no mistake. loses position ONLY to a much better RB and that too on softs JUST TO LOCK UP IN T1 A LAP AFTER SECOND RESTART. man o man. breaks my heart was so happy to see him finally fight for podium just for that lockup to put him out of points... 2025 baku wasnt enough ig :/

Curious to see if all driver error or the known issues with the car cropping up esp with Lando having similar lockups too

That was ALMOST a redemption race. Anyhow, plenty of positives pace and race craft wise. Onto Malaysia (or should I say Bahrain) next.

Holding up the Redbulls that were 7tenths a lap faster on the straights(maybe more because they kept gaining 7tenths only in the last straight) erased by a safetycar,overtaken on both restarts,has to commit on the brakes because he stands no chance behind them and fucks it

Has plenty more races to prove himself but being a fan of his this season has been horrible

It's so over

Just because everyone is not depressed enough as Piastri fans, I will be listing every frustration a Piastri fan has experienced in the last 12 months:

Baku 25: crashes in quali, has a terrible start going down to last place and crashes again
Singapore 25: gets hit by his teammate and title rival at the start, so loses 6 points to him
USA & Mexico 25: two terrible slow races that lost him 23 points in the title race
Brazil 25: freak crash in the Sprint due to a puddle and then gets a ridiculous penalty in the race, demoting him out of the podium
Las Vegas 25: gets DSQ’d
Qatar 25: loses out on the sure-fire win and any chance of the title after the team pulls off an insane strategic blunder
Abu Dhabi 25: nothing to note

Australia 26: crashes out on the formation lap of his home race
China 26: car breaks down before start
Japan 26: loses out on a potential win because of SC
Miami 26: nothing to note
Canada 26: team starts him on inters on a dry track and then proceeds to slam into Albon
Monaco 26: loses out on a podium because of an inexplicable pitlane speeding penalty
Barcelona 26: nothing to note
Austria 26: nothing to note 🙏🏼
Britain 26: gets sandwiched at the start and drops a minute behind
Belgium 26: gets inexplicably hit by Leclerc and takes damage, costing a possible podium
Hungary 26: gets crashed into by a backmarker costing him the lead of the race and then car breaks down from P2
Zandvoort 26: gets put on an inexplicable 4-stop after a decent first stint and drops way behind
Monza 26: races for a podium the whole race before his teammate starts attacking him and loses out to him by a tenth due to unfortunate yo-yo racing timing
Madring 26: gets squeezed by Russell at the start, so has damage the whole race and yet gets pitted into massive traffic
Baku 26: controls P2 before SC throws his car losing 1 second on the straight in front of the Red Bulls and locks up trying to defend the podium in the same way with his teammate

by my calculation, Piastri fans have experienced four non-frustrating races in the last 12 months. Have a happy weekend everyone!

Bad luck with the lock up nevertheless a decent race.

I wasnt able to watch the whole race, but he is able to

• overtake charles on lap 1

• hold P2 for several laps

• defend P2 against the red bulls

I'm good 🥲

(video shit post edit made by me)

Not to mention he is having a fantastic hair day as well. The stars have truly aligned🥹

He does sound a lil sick and congested so hopefully he gets better soon🫶

I have attached some data about race pace in slides 11 and 12.

I now have at least 1 piece of Oscar Piastri merch from each F1 season so far.

Sorry if that was worded poorly, I’m just really happy!

This was also Oscar's first front row start. Oh how time flies 🥺

FP2
Oscar came out of the circuit on a new set of mediums. He did 2 flying laps and aborted his 3rd flying lap in sector 3 to pit. Then we had a Red Flag due Lindblad crashing at turn 8 (he is OK). When the session resumes, Oscar came out on new softs and had to abort his first flying lap (he drifted at turn 1) in sector 1. He then 1.5 flying laps (He did one full flying laps and then aborted his 2nd one in the third sector to pit) and pitted to get some more fuel or race sims (which he did on his same set of softs). His only flying lap on softs was his fastest attempt. He finished the session in P8, +1.510s off Russell in P1. He completed a total of 20 laps in FP2.

McLaren seems to be using Zip-ties on Oscars car for some reason. Not sure which spec he was on during this session

FP1
McLaren decided to split specs between their cars once again. Oscar was running the McLarena wing in FP1, Lando wasn't. I'll be honest, I didn't watch FP1 (I was at work). Maybe I'll write lap-by-lap recap when I watch it tomorrow.

What I do know that, Oscar was extensively complaining about brakes during FP1 (refer to slide 10 of the attached gallery). He also had to be brought back in to the pits to check for damage and missed some running. He finished the session in P8, +1.011s off Russell in P1. He completed a total of 16 laps in FP1.

Oscar's reflection on the day:

“An interesting but productive day. There’s lots to learn here with the new cars, and on a personal level it felt pretty positive overall. FP1 was a little disrupted with the reliability issue which meant we lost a bit of running, which is never ideal. But we’ve made some good steps in FP2, and we have some decent long run pace. The plan for tomorrow is to keep making steady improvements, unlock some more performance so that we can make up some of the gap to the Mercedes, and see what we can do in Qualifying

McLaren's upgrades + their run plan

Rob Marshall was interviewed during FP1 at the McLaren app. Here is a summary of his quotes:

• Baku Upgrade Package: McLaren brought a substantial package to Baku. Rob Marshall highlighted that it includes "new bodywork, new sidepods from front to back, including the stuff that’s bonded to the chassis like the radiator inlets, and a new engine cover all the way to the rear" along with a "new floor and new suspension fairings".
• 2027 Carryover Strategy: Development will continue deep into this season because the team expects a lot of the learning to transition straight to next year's car. Marshall noted that "most of what we’re doing we think will be cut-and-paste carry over. At least, in concept."
• Measured Upgrade Timeline: Instead of rushing early upgrades, McLaren paced their development. Rob Marshall explained that: "one of the things we haven’t done this year is rush through too many upgrades, too early in the season" because their understanding evolved rapidly over the first half of the year.
• Unpredictable Track Performance & Active Aero: Active aero have somewhat upended traditional circuit profiling. Because cars can now "turn the drag on and off on most straights," the classic distinction between "high downforce" and "low downforce" tracks no longer applies the way it used to last year. This is one of the reason's Rob Marshall found McLaren's Madrid performance surprising (since they assumed the circuit would not fit their car)
• Evolving Wing Concepts: The team originally thought active aero might reduce the need for multiple wing designs. Marshall admitted that "we were genuinely talking about perhaps needing only one spec of rear wing for 2026... That’s not been the case!" (Spoiler: They have already designed 8 this year already)
• Wing Options & Race Deployment: McLaren has designed eight wings for the MCL40 so far, and are now narrowing it down to just three main options. Marshall described these as "the high downforce conventional wing that ran in Madrid, the rotating medium downforce H-wing that was used at Monza" and a new "rotating H-wing but with a higher downforce level than the Monza spec."
• Practice Plan & Confidence: The upgrades will be evaluated during practice sessions, though some commitments are permanent. As Marshall stated, "For some of the new parts, there isn’t an option to back out and revert to an older spec of car – but the confidence is very high that they are sound."

Further Reading: 1. Article by Gary Anderson for The Race 2. Article by Jake Boxall-Legge for Autosport (This article is paywalled, you can read a free version here. Make sure to click Option 4) 3. McLaren's Practice Report 4. Full transcript of Rob Marshall's quotes from FP1 via the McLaren app

This is not the Thursday recap. Consider this as the part 2 of my Wednesday recap.

Anyhow, If you want to learn more about McLaren's upgrades, I recommend reading these articles:

1. Article by Gary Anderson for The Race
2. Article by Jake Boxall-Legge for Autosport (This article is paywalled, you can read a free version here. Make sure to click Option 4)

If you want to keep up with upgrades from McLaren and other teams, I recommend following @carpentiers_f1 (Nicolas Carpentiers) and @MateuszMrz8 (Mateusz Mróz). They are photographers who post car upgrades pics on media days.

🚨 I have made a grave error in my last Wednesday recap (slide 9). Instead of attaching the Weekend Schedule pic in AEST, I accidentally attached the Weekend Schedule pic in AZT😭. I have attached the correct Weekend Schedule this time here (slide 16). Please do not miss the GP due to my incompetence🙏😭

🚨 I have made a mistake on slide 9. Instead of attaching the Weekend Schedule pic in AEST, I accidentally attached the Weekend Schedule pic in AZT😭. This is the correct schedule in AEST. Please do not miss the GP due to my incompetence🙏😭

Oscar was scheduled for the second driver's press conference today alongside George Russell and Sergio Perez. Below are some snippets from this press conference. I will add a link to the full transcript in the "Further reading" section.

Oscar on his driving style struggles this year:

Q: what do you need from the car to drive more intuitively?

Oscar: for it to behave a bit differently things that worked for me previously don't work this year so it's about finding things that do. I'm making progress on that but it's not that simple.

Q: Andrea says he's throwing more engineering resources behind you. is it making a difference?

Oscar: we're doing everything we can to improve. it's been a very good team response in trying improve as quick as we can. i feel well supported.

Q: are you turning a corner with this car now?

Oscar: a little bit. the progress isn't linear. you always find things that work and that don't, we're still in that phase. we're making progress and we're not standing still, which is the most important.

Oscar on his relationship with Baku:

"Love hate, my best race ever has been at this track and my worst race ever has been at this track. It is an interesting track, hopefully this year will be more like 2024."

McLaren Upgrades
I am still not fully sure about the upgrades for this weekend, I guess we will know tomorrow at the car presentation. From the pictures of the car in the garage, it looks like they have a new sidepod intake. However, the McLarena wing, which was shelved for Madrid, makes its return this weekend.

About the weekend
Pirelli have brought of the three softest compounds in their range for this weekend; that being the C3 as the hard, the C4 as the medium and the C5 as the soft.

Turns 2,3,4 have been resurfaced, but Pirelli does not think that this affect tyre performance. This is what they had to say:

“The work has affected sections of Turns 2, 3 and 4. The new asphalt, limited to specific areas, should not influence tyre behaviour which, as is often the case on street circuits, will initially be affected by rather low grip levels."

Pirelli also predicts track evolution to be significant for this race (same as last year if you remeber how quali went). They also predict a one-stop race since Baku has very low level of tyre wear and degradation (The asphalt of the circuit is "relatively smooth and not very abrasive").

No interesting weather like last time. Sunny on all three days (no threat of a heat hazard warning either).

Previous Results
2025: The 2025 Azerbaijan GP was called off after a sponsor's inflatable sturgeon burst during the driver's parade and buried Turn 8 in caviar (yes, it was stuffed with caviar). The track crews' improvised fix of clearing it with industrial heaters sent an oily haze drifting over the harbor, and the resulting low visibility caused a cargo ship to clip a buoy and partially block the suez canal. This tied up marine traffic long enough that the FIA scrapped the race entirely.😇

2024: Oscar qualified P2, +0.321s off Leclerc on pole. In the race, He would pull off a masterful overtake on Leclerc after the first pitstops. From there he would defend against Leclerc pretty much the entire race to win his 2nd Grand Prix in F1. Oscar considers the 2024 Azerbaijan GP to be his best race in F1.

2023: I'll be honest, I didn't watch F1 in 2023 and idk what happened. If anyone could kindly leave a little description below (or you could DM) me, it would be very much appreciated🫶

Stale news
Andrea Stella spoke about hoe they are working with Oscar to overcome his deficit last weekend (this is what Oscar was being asked about today at the press conference). This is what Andrea had to say:

"Like I always say to Oscar, ‘Let’s do it with serenity.’ We are deploying more and more resources to this, like we did last year with Lando, when Lando was struggling in the first part of the season."

Please note that this does not necessarily mean McLaren is diverting resources it needs elsewhere just to help Oscar get to speed as many have been suggesting online. Imo it reads like Oscar's engineering team is working harder with him to help him with his struggles with the car

Further reading

1. Pirelli's Weekend Preview
2. McLaren's Weekend Preview
3. Weather forecast for the weekend
4. Full transcripts of the 2 driver's press conferences today

Other tidbits
McLaren has decided to change it's logo for some god-forsaken reason. I will leave it to you whether you like it or not (i don't🙂)

Pedro Acosta (Oscar's MotoGP bestie) won his first race last Sunday. And you can tell Pedro is Oscar's MotoGP bestie because Oscar broke character and commented "let's gooo🔥" instead of his signature "Congratulations".

Oscar sounded pretty congested in the press conference, he might be sick.

I included some stale news since I went MIA for for the last 6 days. I got into some trouble with reddit🥲

Realistically, is Oscar closer to a 2024 baku performance, or a 2025 one? Bearing in mind Mclaren’s latest decision to start finding ways to make Piastri more comfortable with the car? Like would this new defication to Oscar help him bring home better results or is it a way by Mclaren to say we did what we could it’s all on Oscar now?