McLaren's Oscar Piastri labelled his victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the most stressful afternoon of his life after claiming his second career win in Formula One.
Piastri, who started second on the grid, emerged victorious ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to put McLaren at the summit of the constructors' championship.
The Australian's team-mate, Lando Norris, managed a fourth-place finish in Baku having endured a difficult qualifying that saw him start in 17th on Sunday.
Piastri's triumph saw him move up to 222 points in the drivers' championship, and he is now 13 points behind Leclerc in third place.
The McLaren driver performed a huge lunge on the inside on lap 20 to take the lead from the Monegasque, defending admirably to secure the victory in Azerbaijan.
“I tried at the start of the race to get in front but once I dropped out of DRS I just didn’t have the pace,” said winner Piastri.
“After the stop, I saw we were pretty close again and I felt like we had a little bit of extra grip.
"I had to go for it because I knew that if I didn’t get past at the start of the stint, I was never going to get past.
“I went for a pretty big lunge but managed to pull it off and then hang on for dear life for the next 35 laps.
"The last couple of laps, once [Leclerc] dropped out of DRS, were a little bit more relaxing, but there’s no such thing as a relaxing lap around here so it was hard work.
"It definitely goes down as one of the better races of my career.”
Piastri (two) and Norris (two) are the first pair of drivers to get two wins in the same season for McLaren since 2012 (Lewis Hamilton, four, and Jenson Button, three).
The Australian's victory also continued the British-based team's record of having one or both of their drivers on the podium in each of the last 13 races.
It equalled their second-best run in the competition (13, which they recorded on two other occasions, between the United States and Portugal in 1990, and Germany 2011 and China 2012).
Up next on the F1 calendar is the Singapore Grand Prix, a race that saw Norris claim second last year, with Piastri finishing down in seventh.
Mercedes' luck turns in Las Vegas one-two
George Russell was relieved to see Mercedes' luck turn as the Silver Arrows clinched a stunning one-two at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday.
Russell held off challenges from Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, as well as team-mate Lewis Hamilton, to triumph from pole in Sin City.
He led for 49 of the 50 laps as he sealed his third victory in F1. Only at Sao Paulo in 2022 (66) and Sakhir in 2020 (59) has he led for more laps at a single grand prix.
Russell started at the front of the grid for the third time in 2024, having previously failed to convert poles in Canada and at Silverstone into victories.
Mercedes endured a difficult outing at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last time out as Russell finished fourth and Hamilton 10th, and they were delighted to rediscover their consistency in Nevada.
"It's going to be a good party, I was planning on flying in a couple of hours but I'm definitely not getting on that flight. I’m going to enjoy this evening with all my team," Russell said.
"It's been a dream of a weekend. I don’t know how we've been so quick but I'm just riding this wave right now.
"To get the victory here, pole position and a dominant weekend, one-two with Lewis as well, we couldn't have chosen a better place to make this happen.
"I was just waiting for something to happen. The two races I've been on pole before it’s always been chaos, rain, dry, always something happening, last race in Brazil with the red flag... there is always something happening. Luck has turned and I'm so happy right now."
Hamilton, meanwhile, took the opportunity to congratulate his great rival Max Verstappen after the Red Bull driver sealed his fourth world championship by finishing ahead of Lando Norris.
"Firstly, congrats to Max winning the championship, still with several races to go," the seven-time world champion, who will join Ferrari for 2025, said.
"If I'd done my job yesterday it would have been a breeze today. But it's okay, I had fun coming from 10th and the team did a fantastic job.
"We don't know why we were quick this weekend but that's the best the car has ever felt. So I'm grateful to be a part of getting to that point.
"If the car drives like that in the next couple of races, then I think we'll be in a good spot to challenge the guys up front. The championship's done, so now it’s just all out, fight for the best positions possible."
Hamilton: 'I should have been in pole position' for Las Vegas Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton believes he should have been starting in pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday despite qualifying 10th.
The Mercedes driver had finished top in both of Friday’s practice sessions before laying down the fastest time in Q2 as well.
Hamilton locked up during his first run in Q3 before a track limits violation in his second run saw his lap time deleted.
The British driver rued his drop-off in form that saw his team-mate and compatriot George Russell take pole position.
"I should have been on pole but I'm not, so it is what it is. C'est la vie, you live to fight another day," he told Sky Sports.
"It is what it is. It's been a good weekend so far, so I'll give it my best shot tomorrow. Congrats to George.
"The car felt different in Q3, and the stability was not there for some reason. But I had it in all the other sessions.
"But ultimately I didn't put the laps together. I'm really quite far back so I'll just see what I can do from there.”
Elsewhere in the paddock, McLaren’s Lando Norris will start in sixth position on the grid, one place behind his title rival Max Verstappen.
Norris needs to beat the Red Bull driver by at least three points to keep his title aspirations alive and take the championship race to the Qatar Grand Prix next week.
He does not, however, favour his chances against the serial winner.
"I will do everything I can. That's what I'm here to do. I'm not going to give up 'til the end even if chances are extremely thin," Norris said.
"I'm here to do the best in every race I can whether I'm fighting for a championship or not. We have [Verstappen] just ahead of us. We have a chance to beat him.
"Whether he wins or not tomorrow, for me it is not going to change anything, he is pretty likely to win the championship.”
Norris currently sits 62 points short of Verstappen who leads the Driver’s Championship on 393 points, though McLaren lead Ferrari by 36 points in the Constructors’ Championship.
"Do I wish it could have gone a bit further? Sure. But the race was lost in the first races of the year, when Max got too far ahead. I am proud and happy with what we’ve done,” Norris added.
"Be optimistic and look ahead to what we can achieve. I don’t expect anything much, for sure."
Russell revels in 'surprise' pole position for Las Vegas Grand Prix
George Russell "put it all on the table" to surge to a surprise pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix with an impressive qualifying display.
After Mercedes had topped all three practice sessions on Friday, Russell was able to convert his team's electric practice pace into a fourth career pole.
The Briton finished 0.098 seconds ahead of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, while Alpine's Pierre Gasly built on his podium at Interlagos last time out by finishing third, with Charles Leclerc starting in fourth.
While it was Russell’s out-going Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton who swept Thursday’s free practice sessions, the seven-time world champion could only manage 10th.
Asked if pole was expected coming into the weekend, Russell replied: “Honestly, absolutely not. It feels incredible to be back on pole.
“We’ve been so quick all weekend and I just knew coming into that last Q3 lap… that’s going to be the one that counts. It doesn’t matter what happened before then.
"I'm just so happy, and we've got to do some deep diving to understand why we’ve been so quick so far this weekend, because it was a real surprise!”
"Ultimately, you’ve got to put it on the table sometimes. I felt confident in myself – I knew if I did a clean lap, it would be enough to secure a front row, so to get pole position is incredible," Russell said.
"Ultimately, we’ve had a few good qualifying recently – we need to convert that into a win now."
Max Verstappen will share the third row of the grid with his sole remaining opponent for the title, Lando Norris, after qualifying fifth.
The Dutchman knows that he must finish ahead of the Briton's McLaren to claim a fourth consecutive world title, putting him level with Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel.
However, Verstappen believes that Red Bull are "just a bit too slow" after struggling for one-lap performance throughout the course of the weekend's action.
"We have been struggling to get the tyres to work over a lap, and we are slow on the straights as well, especially in qualifying," Verstappen said.
"You can see our rear wing, it’s trimmed down quite a lot, around the DRS flap, so when we open DRS we don’t get the gains like others do, so that makes it a bit more complicated around here.
“But that’s our own fault. We know that, that's a compromise we have, but nevertheless, I tried to do the best I could.
"It was quite close for P3, little details that could have been a bit better maybe, but overall I'm happy with the laps, was not much more in it."
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