Eddie Jordan shares the only thing he ‘hated’ about Oscar Piastri’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix win

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The perfect victory very rarely exists in Formula 1 but McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix came very close.

McLaren knew they needed to overturn an eight-point deficit to Red Bull to take the lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

That looked in doubt when Lando Norris was knocked out in Q1, but Oscar Piastri put his car on the front row alongside Charles Leclerc who is an expert around the Baku street circuit.

After the first round of pit stops, Leclerc was in an incredibly strong position to finally win from pole position in the Azerbaijani capital after three failed attempts in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

However, Piastri pulled off a fantastic move after a slow in-lap and out-lap from the Monegasque driver and held off Leclerc lap after lap going into turn one to take the chequered flag.

Speaking on the Formula For Success Podcast, former F1 team manager Eddie Jordan was talking to David Coulthard about the race in Baku.

He couldn’t praise Piastri enough but admitted one aspect of the second victory of his burgeoning F1 career didn’t sit well with him.

After 50 laps of intense racing and pushing his McLaren to the limit, Piastri was no longer under pressure when he took the chequered flag.

That’s because of the other big talking point of the race between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, which meant the race didn’t finish under racing conditions.

Eddie Jordan hated Oscar Piastri winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix under the safety car

Explaining his feelings after the race ended, Jordan said: “I think it was just one of those unfortunate incidents that adds more fuel to the fire that says, ‘Hey, what an unbelievable season we have’.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

“It brought excitement to it, although having said that, I hate to see the race winner going over the winter under a safety car, that really doesn’t do a lot for me.

“Oscar, he’s had a few very unlucky situations where things have been, you know, the glory days or this, that or the other, have been taken from him in different situations.

“I thought Oscar was truly amazing, well done to Leclerc because he held it strong for such a long time.”

McLaren watching Oscar Piastri go from strength to strength in 2024

Norris is McLaren’s lead driver for the final seven races of the 2024 F1 season as he’s currently Max Verstappen’s closest challenger in the Drivers’ Championship.

However, Piastri is the man in form with no driver having scored more points than him over the past ten race weekends.

It’s going to lead to a fascinating dynamic next year when McLaren will hope to start the season as the fastest team on the grid before 2026’s regulation change.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Oscar Piastri’s engineer has explained where he’s made massive strides forward this season and he’s improving at a rate very rarely seen in F1.

His manager Mark Webber has equally been impressed with Piastri’s progression and will know that he’s looking after a potential future world champion right now.

Next year is when Piastri has to capitalise before the grid is reset and it becomes a lottery to see who has nailed the new ruleset and who has work to do.