Oscar encouraged by a weekend “more at the level” he expects of himself

Oscar relished his fight at the front of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and is determined to take plenty of lessons into the next two races of the triple header.

Oscar produced a strong drive for most of the race around Baku and was in contention for a podium, before a lock-up on Lap 40 while using the Medium tyre. It followed an excellent Qualifying performance that saw the Australian start P3, before he took full advantage of a strong start to move into P2.

Some excellent defending continued to keep Oscar in contention and, although he didn’t finish on the podium, he was keen to accentuate the positives from a frustrating afternoon in Baku. Oscar is firm in his belief that he will be better off for the experience ahead of back-to-back races at the Bahrain and Singapore Grands Prix.

“I think once the dust settles, there will be a lot of positives from this weekend,” Oscar said. “I am just disappointed, the first half of the race, the first stint, was very encouraging. From there on, it unravelled.

“Qualifying was good, in general, I had more direction on what I need to do with the car. There are plenty of positives, it just hurts when you don’t have any points or a trophy at the end.

“Apart from one moment in the race, I feel like it's been a weekend much more at the level I expect from myself. From that side of things, it's been much more encouraging.”

Oscar was on course for a podium finish but locked both of his front tyres going into Turn 1 on Lap 40. With the field tightly bunched following a Safety Car period, he fell from P3 to P15.

Both drivers had made an excellent start to the race, with Oscar jumping up to P2 ahead of Charles Leclerc before Turn 1, while Lando moved up to P4. Oscar slotted in behind leader and eventual winner George Russell and did well to fight off the feisty Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.

Soft tyres performed better than the Medium compound in the race, and with less tyre degradation than at recent races, it proved to be a long first stint for most of the field, but two quick-fire Safety Car periods flipped the race on its head. The first came on Lap 30, as an Alex Albon crash allowed almost every driver to make a pit stop, and on the restart, Oscar was overtaken by Verstappen for P2.

A second Safety Car was called seconds later after an incident that resulted in retirements for Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly and Lando – who was P7. Oscar then unfortunately locked up at the end of the first racing lap after the resumption.

We brought a fresh package of upgrades to Baku, but both drivers were frustrated by the MCL40’s straight-line speed at a circuit with the longest straight on the Formula 1 calendar.

Oscar was able to hold off Verstappen and Hadjar through the first stint but admitted it was hard work, with Baku boasting the longest straight on the calendar.

“It was frustrating because you would feel like you have done a good lap but you would see the gap on our dash, and it was being eaten away down the straight,” Oscar added. “It was a shame that George was so quick – for obvious reasons – but also because I didn’t have a slipstream and so I was a sitting duck on the straights.

“That was disappointing, but I feel like the first half of the race, when we were on the Soft tyre, was good.”

Like Oscar, Lando had a fast start and climbed from P5 to P4 early in the race by overtaking Leclerc. However, Verstappen managed to get ahead of him, and the reigning World Champion was P5 for much of the first stint before his own lock-up, similar to Oscar’s.

He lost two places just before the first Safety Car and, after initially gaining positions during the restart, was hit by Colapinto and Gasly going into Turn 1, bringing his race to a premature end.

“I was slow and really struggling on the straights - you saw how quickly everyone came past me," Lando said. "In terms of straight-line speed, it was an impossible race for me, so hopefully we can fix that for next time," he said.

“We could have won three of the last four races, we did win two in Hungary and Zandvoort. There are plenty of positives, not so much this weekend, we were not quick enough. We knew that, and we are going to be in for a few tough weekends, I imagine. Maybe Malaysia is a better one for us.”