Verstappen cruises to victory ahead of Sainz's maiden Williams podium as Piastri retires early in the race

Max Verstappen sealed back-to-back victories followed by George Russell scoring a surprise second place, joined by Carlos Sainz taking Williams' first podium since 2021. McLaren meanwhile suffered a chastening weekend, with Oscar Piastri uncharacteristically crashing out early in the race and Lando Norris unable to improve from seventh - meaning the Constructors' Championship will continue to Singapore.

Max Verstappen took his fourth win of the season in Baku | Credit: Formula One

Back for the eighth running of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Formula One visited the lowest lying national capital in the world to continue the championship battles.

From the quickest F1 race last time out in Monza, we pivoted to a qualifying session that lasted longer than any of the races this season, clocking in at one hour and 58 minutes. 

The main event however saw fewer red flags, but plenty of dramatic moments: a championship-defining crash from Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz's memorable Williams podium were the top stories that shaped race day at the circuit by the Caspian sea.

Race Report

Max Verstappen led the grid from pole to the shortest run to Turn 1, electing for the hard compound ahead of Sainz and Liam Lawson on medium tyres.

Chaos descended upon the track as soon as the lights went out, with Piastri dropping down to dead last after a twitchy start then immediately crashing out at Turn 6 to bring on the first Safety Car of the race – recording his first retirement of the season and ending the second-longest race-finishing streak in F1 history.

The shocking crash brought his already scrappy weekend to a close, a dramatic turn in form for the championship leader who scored a win around Baku last year.

Oscar Piastri crashed out after a poor start to the race | Credit: Formula One

His teammate Lando Norris had a difficult getaway too, losing a position to Isack Hadjar, while the top six remained intact just ahead of the Safety Car period. Only Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon stopped under the Safety Car.

Meanwhile the Ferrari pair had made up the leeway on the opening laps, with Charles Leclerc improving to ninth and Lewis Hamilton gaining two places from 12th.

As the Safety Car pulled in on Lap 4, Fernando Alonso was noted for a false start, the Spaniard reacting to Piastri jumping the start, collecting a five-second time penalty for the incident.

Back to green flag conditions, the two Mercedes went side-by-side with Kimi Antonelli holding off George Russell, the Briton knocked down to fourth.

More wheel-to-wheel action further switched up positions on track, Leclerc making an easy move on Norris and taking seventh.

Meanwhile, the top three cruised on, as the pack behind them saw shuffles – Yuki Tsunoda challenging Antonelli for fourth while simultaneously defending his position from Russell behind.

As the race approached the Lap 10 yardstick, Norris was attempting to reclaim his lost position from Leclerc, yet could not inch past the four-time polesitter across Baku.

The cars now settling into a steady rhythm, the key battle on track was still for fifth between Tsunoda and Russell, the Mercedes driver managing to take his position back along the long straight.

Further down, Albon moved ahead of Gasly, while the other Williams of Sainz continued locked in for the podium.

On Lap 16, Russell appealed for team orders, on the more durable hard tyres over his rookie teammate ahead of him. 

Meanwhile, Albon leaped into the pits followed by Franco Colapinto, the two drivers colliding back on track at Turn 5 and bringing out a momentary yellow flag. The Alpine driver managed to keep going, keeping the Safety Car at bay, while the Williams driver collected a 10-second penalty for the incident.

Antonelli soon took a first pit stop on Lap 19, swapping his mediums for hards and prompting a reaction from Lawson in third.

Leclerc followed suit, hoping to force Tsunoda to pit too who was now directly ahead of him, while Norris was promoted to sixth after numerous laps facing the Ferrari’s rear-wing.

Lando Norris was stuck behind Charles Leclerc for much of the early stages | Credit: McLaren

Lawson blinked on Lap 21, and rejoined the track ahead of Antonelli, a crucial position for the Racing Bulls driver chasing his maiden F1 podium. Yet the Mercedes rookie stayed close behind, and barged past Lawson down the calendar's second-longest straight to take ninth, with all drivers ahead yet to pit.

Ahead in P1, Verstappen sailed on with a near seven-second gap to Sainz, going long with the hard tyres. On Lap 28, Sainz took a pivotal stop from second, rejoining in sixth.

A few positions behind him, Lawson was being hustled on by Leclerc after dropping back from Antonelli.

Bearman and Hadjar became the latest drivers to stop while fellow rookie Gabriel Bortoleto moved up to 14th following a pass on Gasly, the Alpine driver’s race becoming more bleak with each position lost.

With 20 laps to go, those who hadn’t stopped yet – including Norris in fourth – were no doubt hoping for a Safety Car and the cheap pit stop. 

While the Lawson-Leclerc battle dragged on, the Monegasque driver frustratingly stuck behind and unable to carry momentum to make a pass, Tsunoda in third was encouraged to pick up his pace to cover the incoming threat of the Ferrari and Racing Bulls.

Lap 37 saw Hamilton called into the pits, taking new mediums for the final stint of the race. The sole-running McLaren was also called in, but Norris had another painfully slow tyre change as in Monza, adding to the 19.7 seconds of pitstop loss time.

On the other hand, Tsunoda had a clean 2.2-second stop, but was unable to jump Lawson out of the pits and found himself sandwiched between his former teammate and Leclerc.

The cycle of stops continued with Russell diving into the pits too, and critically coming out ahead of Sainz to bag net-second. 

George Russell remained consistent throughout the race to secure second after starting fifth | Credit: Formula One

As race leader Verstappen took a comfortable stop to inch a step closer to the win, Norris was finally able to get past Leclerc to take back the seventh place he’d lost after the Safety Car restart.

Leclerc’s pace now began to drop after having stopped earlier, and Ferrari quickly enforced team orders, unleashing Hamilton to chase Norris for seventh. 

Up in the podium places, Sainz’s P2 now snatched by Russell, a third place finish was also under threat with the quicker Mercedes of Antonelli swiftly approaching. 

With under 10 laps to go, a three-car battle was gaining steam between Lawson, Tsunoda and Norris for fifth. With all three drivers having everything to gain with the position, the situation looked tight – Hamilton now joining the fray as well.

As the final laps ticked down, a Drag Reduction System (DRS) train quickly formed between the four drivers, while ahead of this procession, Antonelli began to mount a challenge on Sainz in a bid to secure a second podium of his rookie season.

The final lap of the race saw no driver make any significant improvements, as the formation finished line astern.

The real story was up front, with Verstappen executing yet another clinical pole-to-flag victory and his camp jubilant with victory in a race that McLaren uncharacteristically fumbled.

The Dutchman was followed by Russell and Sainz, the Spaniard clinching his first podium in the Williams colours after fending off Antonelli – and securing the team’s first podium since Spa 2021.

Behind the podium finishers, Antonelli and Lawson secured standout results with fourth and fifth, followed by Tsunoda clinching his best result with Red Bull so far.

Norris finished where he started in seventh, taking just six points out of his gap to Piastri despite the Australian’s early retirement. The Ferrari pair of Hamilton and Leclerc followed after a disappointing weekend for a team that has been historically strong around this venue, and Hadjar rounded out the points scorers.

Full results can be found here.

Championship Standings

The crucial storyline ahead of this round was McLaren's chance of securing the Constructors' title early, with a record seven rounds remaining. However, all hopes of that feat swiftly evaporated following Piastri's crash and Norris' inability to make improvements on track.

While the papaya team still hold a mammoth lead, the battle will go on to Singapore.

The intra-team battle between Piastri and Norris also did not see significant action, though Norris takes an extra six points out of Piastri's lead.

Meanwhile, a disastrous weekend for Ferrari sees them drop down to third in the Constructors', edged out by Mercedes who scored a podium with Russell and P4 with Antonelli.

Key Quotes

The driver of the day was no doubt Sainz, who was on cloud nine after securing a podium in a season of many challenges.

Reacting to his accomplishment, Sainz shared: "Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am, how good this feels. We have been fighting hard all year and today we proved when we have the speed, and everything comes together, we can do some amazing things.

"We didn't make one mistake and managed to beat a lot of cars I didn't expect to beat.

"I'm extremely proud of everyone at Williams. We are the rise, we are [going] in the right direction. We have had a lot of incidents, and now I understand why it had to happen to give me this podium like this.

"A life lesson to keep believing and keep trusting yourself as sooner or later it all pays off."

Carlos Sainz scored his first podium with Williams | Credit: Formula One

Verstappen was also happy with his dominant show of form, stating: "I think this weekend has been incredible for us. For us to win here again is fantastic.

"In the race the car was working well on both compounds. It was pretty straight forward.

"I was happy that there were not too many Safety Cars! For sure the last two race weekends have ben amazing for us."

Up Next

From one street circuit to another, we head to Singapore next for a thrilling night race around Marina Bay. Catch all the action from 3rd to 5th October.