Ferrari’s comeback, Oliver Bearman’s return, and more F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix storylines

What a difference a year makes.

The last time the Formula 1 grid was in Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the field looked a lot different than it does at the moment. In 2023 the Azerbaijan Grand Prix fell in April, as the fourth race of the F1 season, Red Bull arrived in Baku as the dominant force on the grid. Between Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez, the team had won each of the three Grands Prix to open the year and held a 58-point lead over Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship, a commanding margin after only three races.

Meanwhile, McLaren was down at the bottom of the table with just 12 points on the year, having earned all 12 the following race weekend, at the Australian Grand Prix. The duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were shut out of the points in the first two race weekends, and as Norris told me ahead of last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, they were simply fighting for points.

Fast forward to this season. With the revamped F1 calendar the Azerbaijan Grand Prix now comes in September, but that date change alone does not account for the wild. difference in trendlines from both McLaren and Red Bull to this point. As with last year, the Bulls arrive in Baku atop the Constructors’ Championship standings, but with a slim eight-point margin over McLaren. Norris and Piastri are putting a ton of pressure on Red Bull right now, and if recent form holds, McLaren will leave Azerbaijan behind having vaulted into P1 in the Constructors’ Championship fight.

But that does not mean McLaren is enjoying a flawless season. Norris’ pursuit of Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship — where he currently trails the Red Bull driver by 62 points — has McLaren trying to balance his fight in that title chase, with their team goals of securing the Constructors’ Championship. Piastri’s speed certainly aids them in the latter battle, but with the second-year driver showing his ability as a driver this season (he sits in fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship) McLaren is facing a ton of questions around the paddock over whether they will prioritize Norris down the stretch.

As for Red Bull, in recent weeks they have been sounding the alarm about both title fights, and it might not be until the United States Grand Prix in Austin come October when they truly can find out if they have solved the problems the RB20 poses right now.

Can McLaren truly vault into first? Can Red Bull stave them off? How will McLaren handle their speedy duo? These questions are the headlines heading into the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but they are not the only major storylines to monitor.

A Scuderia comeback story?

When the teams arrived in Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, the fight between Red Bull and McLaren dominated the headlines. Norris’ resounding 22-second win over Verstappen at the Dutch Grand Prix reverberated throughout the paddock, and many believed that McLaren would be able to capitalize on that form and surpass Red Bull in the standings in Monza.

Somebody forgot to tell the hometown team.

While McLaren came close, cutting a 30-point deficit down to just 8, it was Charles Leclerc who took the checkered flag at the Italian Grand Prix. Despite McLaren locking out the front row in qualifying, Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. delivered a stunning pair of drives, each relying on just one stop and lasting over 30 laps — 38 for Leclerc to be precise — on a set of hard tires to finish first and fourth.

That has brought Ferrari back into the discussion when it comes to the Constructors’ Championship, and Leclerc into the mix in the Drivers’ title.

Right now Ferrari is just 39 points behind Red Bull, and 31 points behind McLaren, in the Constructors’ Championship battle. While Leclerc is a bit more off the pace in the Drivers’ fight — he trails Verstappen by 86 points and is 24 points behind Norris — he remains in striking distance himself.

Can Ferrari pull off a comeback for the ages? Following Leclerc’s emotional win at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Scuderia were just 24 points behind Red Bull themselves. But a series of upgrades to the SF-24 failed to deliver on the track, and it looked as if Ferrari would simply fade out of contention.

Leclerc’s triumph at Monza, however, has changed the conversation.

While team boss Frederic Vasseur was hesitant to say Ferrari was truly back in the mix after the Italian Grand Prix, the Team Principal noted that in this season, anything seems possible in F1.

“I think it would be a huge mistake to try to draw any conclusions or to change the plan [after winning at Monza],” the team boss commented after Leclerc’s win. “There is a very long way to go until Abu Dhabi, there is something like 450 points on the table.

“It’s so tight, the fight – honestly, I spent a couple of years on the pit wall but it’s the first time I think in F1 we have this situation where eight drivers can win the race, without an accident or crash. Four teams are able to win or be on the podium, and it’s changing from session to session.”

Vasseur went on to say he expects “a huge fight” down the stretch this year.

“But you can expect that, I think until the end of the season, it will be like this, that it will be a huge fight, and it’s true that with eight cars with this kind of competitiveness that one team can do a one-two and also a seven-eight,” added Vasseur. “I don’t want to speak about DNF, but this can make a huge difference in terms of points. Let’s be focused on Baku first. Step by step we will see.”

Monza is for sure a power track, and that coupled with Ferrari’s bold one-stop strategy combined for their emotional win in the Italian Grand Prix. However, some sections of the Baku City Circuit ask for power as well, and Ferrari showed some strength in Azerbaijan a season ago. Last year Leclerc started on pole in both the F1 Sprint Race as well as the Grand Prix itself and finished on the podium in both events.

Can he deliver again, and help Ferrari truly crash the McLaren-Red Bull tango?

Then there were two …

The announcement from Mercedes at the Italian Grand Prix that young phenom Andrea Kimi Antonelli would be driving alongside George Russell next season solidified 18 of the 20 spots on the 2025 F1 grid.

That means only two spots are remaining: One at Sauber alongside Nico Hülkenberg, who was confirmed to be driving for the team ahead of the Miami Grand Prix this year, and the other at Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, next to Yuki Tsunoda.

Will we learn this week who will fill one — or both — of those spots?

The team to watch this week might just be VCARB. Red Bull senior figure Dr. Helmut Marko has hinted in recent weeks that we will learn about Liam Lawson’s future in September, and the clock is ticking …

As for Sauber, Mattia Binotto has indicated that current driver Valtteri Bottas, and F2 driver Gabriel Bortoleto, have emerged as candidates for the spot alongside Hülkenberg. Tomorrow we will feature an exclusive chat with Bottas, and his future was a topic of discussion. So you might want to give that a look later this week.

Adrian Newey’s announcement

This week may finally deliver the long-awaited Adrian Newey news.

From the moment the legendary engineer announced his decision to leave Red Bull, effective at the end of the 2024 F1 season, speculation roared around the paddock regarding where he could land for the 2025 season. In recent weeks that speculation has landed on Aston Martin, with rumors of a massive contract being handed to Newey from Lawrence Stroll.

According to multiple reports, Newey’s deal with Aston Martin is finalized. While the team has not officially announced the contract, a press conference is set for Tuesday at Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory.

Aston Martin has not responded to requests from SB Nation regarding confirmation of a Newey deal, but all signs are pointing to this deal being announced this week.

Sauber’s pursuit of points

Sauber has just eight race weekends to avoid the dreaded doughnut.

The last team to finish an F1 season without scoring a point was Haas, when between Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher they could not secure a point all year long.

At this moment, Sauber is facing that same brutal finish to their F1 season. Between Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, the team has failed to finish in the points this season, with Zhou’s P11 at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix representing their best result of the season.

Can they somehow break through in Baku, or will Azerbaijan represent another stop en route to an inglorious season result?

The return of super-sub Oliver Bearman

At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix earlier this season, reserve driver Oliver Bearman stepped in for an ailing Carlos Sainz Jr. and delivered a stunning seventh-place finish in his debut for Ferrari.

Bearman is back on the grid this week, albeit under much different circumstances.

Bearman will slide into the Haas VF-24 of Kevin Magnussen, as the veteran driver left the Italian Grand Prix with a tenth-place finish, and two more penalty points on his Super License for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly.

Those two points brought his total to 12 in a calendar year, triggering a one-race ban.

“It’s definitely more of a challenge stepping in to race as a reserve driver, with limited prep-time and so on, but I’m in the fortunate position of having done it earlier in the year with Scuderia Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience,” said Bearman. “I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in the VF-24 already this season, so undoubtedly that will also prove to be valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku. The team is in good form at the moment and I’ll do my best to be prepared with the time we have available. The aim is to get out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”

The week will be a good warmup for Bearman, who will be driving for Haas full-time next season alongside Esteban Ocon.

The castle section

Finally, this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix means the return of the “castle section,” the portion of the track where the cars wind through Baku, and alongside the medieval city walls.

And as such, we are treated to some of the most iconic images each F1 season has to offer: