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By the time Charles Leclerc had opened a gap of 5.9s over him on Lap 14 of 51 laps, Oscar knew that he had over-taxed his own Medium-compound Pirelli tyres trying to challenge the Ferrari for the lead. He had pushed too hard, too soon, as his race engineer Tom Stallard had already advised him over the radio, and he could feel his MCL38 sliding around beneath him as it lost critical grip. 

A pit stop was due. 

Already, others who had started on the Medium tyres were surrendering them. Franco Colapinto was the first, on Lap 10. Then Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas on 11. Then Max Verstappen, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton all followed suit on 12. But the biggest threat to Oscar came in the form of Sergio Pérez as Red Bull pitted him on Lap 13 in an attempt to get the undercut on Oscar. We kept him out until Lap 15, however.  

Step forward Lando. He had endured a horrible Q1 when a spurious Yellow Flag had caused him to lift unnecessarily in the final sector on his last run, and as a result qualified only 17th. He then gained two grid places when other drivers made changes to their cars that obliged them to start from the pit lane. But he nevertheless faced a very tough challenge starting so far back, so we had put him on the harder Pirelli tyres so that he could run longer and make his stop when there was less likelihood of coming back out in heavy traffic. He had already made excellent progress fighting against others on their faster rubber. So, by the time Pérez pitted, Lando had risen to sixth as a result of his strong effort, and others making their pit stops. 

As Oscar was finally heading for the pits, Pérez had his new hard tyres fully up to temperature and was coming up fast. But he came up behind Lando, who gave Oscar a little bit of assistance.

“When Sergio was behind me, I didn’t slow down but I just looked after my tyres a little bit more,” Lando said. “That allowed Oscar to get back out ahead and I’m glad I helped with that. I’d got stuck behind another car for 15 laps, so doing that [with Pérez] didn’t affect my race too much but it helped Oscar and that was my job today.” 

It was a crucial part of Oscar’s success, as he was able not only to exit the pit lane before Pérez exited Turn 1, but to get his own new Hard tyres up to their optimum temperature before the Red Bull driver could launch an attack. 

Ferrari responded immediately to Oscar’s pit stop by bringing Leclerc in for fresh tyres on Lap 16. But though he too exited before his rivals could overtake him, the power of the undercut had been dramatic. Oscar was now just seven-tenths of a second behind the red car, and on tyres that suited our car perfectly. 

Now he was back in the fight, and he would lose no time in demonstrating that.

High-risk, high commitment

The extended DRS zone on the very long main straight at the Baku circuit would play a major role in what happened next. Oscar got such a strong tow – the suction effect that is generated when one car runs in the slipstream of another – that he was able to pull off one of the overtakes of the season. He was 24 metres behind the Ferrari heading down to Turn 1 as they completed their 19th lap, and Leclerc believed that he was sufficiently far ahead to be safe as he sped past the pits and began to brake. But the suction effect was so strong that he knew it was worth taking a big risk. That it was now, or never. At the last moment he dived to the inside of the Ferrari under braking and pulled off the spectacular move. 

"I saw half an opportunity after the pit stop and knew I had to try and take it, and that’s what won me the race. I felt a bit sorry for Tom because I tried to do that in the first stint and completely cooked my tyres. So, he came on the radio and said, ‘Let's not do that again’, basically. I decided to try one more time and sent it down the inside... 

"At that point, I felt that trying to stay back and wait for Charles’ tyres to degrade was never going to happen if he was the one running in clean air. I thought we were just going to secure us P2 doing that. If I didn't take that opportunity then I was never going to have another one, I think. Credit to Charles, he was incredibly fair. I think maybe he thought I was going to sail on into the run-off, but I was pleased that I made the corner. 

"It was a high-risk, high commitment move but that’s what I needed to do to try and win the race."

Defending under pressure

It was also very high judgement. The MCL38 understeered just enough towards the outer barrier without him actually grazing it, and he was able to defend from Leclerc on the exit to Turn 1 to retain the advantage.

That was part of the job done, but now things got much more stressful because he was the man with the target on his back, defending not just from Leclerc but also Pérez, who both had the benefit of DRS against him.

What Oscar did for the next 27 laps defined him as a Grand Prix driver, confirming what we already knew: he has everything he needs to win World Championships. The Ferrari was never more than nine-tenths of a second behind him as they crossed the finish line, yet he never wavered and never made any serious mistakes as they duelled at 200mph. Leclerc got very, very close several times, within two-tenths on Laps 29, 31 and 33, in particular, but every time Oscar did just enough to defend himself without compromising his exit to Turn 1, and his coolness under the most intense pressure was outstanding.

The Ferrari challenge finally cracked on Lap 47 as Leclerc’s tyres went ‘over the cliff,’ and instead of being the hunter he became the hunted as Pérez and his own team-mate Carlos Sainz began to hound him as he struggled for pace. That lap Oscar pulled a 1.7s gap, and by Lap 48 it was 2.5s. Well before a collision between Pérez and Sainz necessitated a VSC deployment, he had the race won.

On a day when teamwork again proved crucial, Oscar’s second F1 victory, allied to Lando’s very strong recovery to fourth with Fastest Lap, was sufficient to lift McLaren to the head of the points table in the World Championship for Constructors, 20 ahead of Red Bull. We have won eight Constructors' Championship titles in our history, but this is the first time we have led the table since Australia 2014 - confirmation of our team’s dramatic progress.

Oscar admitted that it had been the most stressful Sunday afternoon of his young life, but his composure under intense pressure was the second critical factor in his success.

"Trying to soak up that pressure for so long in that race was incredibly tough,” he confessed. “Getting into the lead was going to be, let's say 40% of the job, but I knew that hanging on to it was going to be 60%. I knew that I'd used the tyres pretty heavily to try and get in front, and I knew what kind of impact that had in the first stint, and I was just hoping that the clean air was going to help me stay ahead.

"It probably did a little bit, but then obviously you lose a lot of time with DRS, so trying to keep Charles behind was incredibly stressful. I made a couple of mistakes, but at a track like Baku, it's impossible to be driving flat out and not make any. I was just fortunate that they weren't big enough that it cost me.

“I think that has to be one of the best races I've ever done."

Our Team Principal Andrea Stella praised the excellent teamwork that made this such a special day and justified all the work that has gone into making such a competitive car. “Oscar’s drive today and Lando’s recovery from 15th, and the help that Lando gave to Oscar at a crucial moment… These things show that we have such a great team with such strong drivers.

“Oscar said that this was the most stressful afternoon of his life. I hope that he has them much more frequently in the future…”