Verstappen claims dominant Azerbaijan win over Russell and Sainz after Piastri crashes out

Max Verstappen claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Lando Norris closed the gap to title rival Oscar Piastri to 25 points after the Drivers' Championship leader crashed out on the opening lap.

Verstappen was never headed on the streets of Baku, leading all 51 laps and winning by over 14 seconds from Mercedes' George Russell and Carlos Sainz, who claimed his first podium for Williams having just lost out on pole position.

Kimi Antonelli narrowly missed out on the final step of the podium, having run well all day, but was well clear of a fierce battle for fifth, which was headed by Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson, who claimed a career-best result.

Yuki Tsunoda finished sixth after applying intense late pressure but in the process claimed his best result for Red Bull, while Norris finished seventh – the same position the McLaren driver started having struggled to make any progress through the sole pit stop sequence.

The Briton, who slumped to as low a ninth at one stage, was unable to pass Tsunoda on the final lap and only reduced Piastri's lead in the title race by six points.

This was after the Australian suffered a disastrous opening lap, jumping the lights and then activating anti-stall from P9 before crashing out at Turn 5 having dropped to the back of the field.

Lewis Hamilton led team mate Charles Leclerc on a difficult day for Ferrari after both started down the order, as the second Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar completed the top 10.

Gabriel Bortoleto's Kick Sauber was best of the rest, followed by Ollie Bearman and Alex Albon, the Williams driver slapped with a 10-second penalty for a collision with Franco Colapinto mid-race.

Esteban Ocon, who started last after the rear wing on his Haas was found to be illegal post-Qualifying, finished P14 from Fernando Alonso, the Aston Martin driver handed a penalty for jumping the start.

The order was completed by Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Colapinto, with Piastri the only retirement.

AS IT HAPPENED

After one of the most chaotic Qualifying sessions in F1 history, Verstappen started on pole for the sixth time this season while a mixed up grid meant title rivals Norris and Piastri were back in seventh and ninth respectively.

Despite using the hard Pirelli tyre compared with fellow front-row starter Sainz on the medium rubber, Verstappen cut across as the lights went out to hold the lead through the opening turns, as Sainz, Lawson and Antonelli maintained position behind.

Further back, Piastri suffered a disastrous start off the line having initially jumped the lights before coming to a stop and engaging anti-stall, meaning the Drivers' Championship leader slumped to P20 even before Turn 1.

But things were to get even worse for the McLaren driver as he slammed into the barriers at Turn 5 to register his first retirement of the season and offer Norris a perfect opportunity to reduce the 31-point gap separating them.

The Briton, though, had lost a position to Hadjar and was down in P8 as the Safety Car, deployed in the wake of Piastri's crash, returned to the pit lane at the end of Lap 4, and Norris immediately lost another position to Leclerc at the restart.

Further ahead, the two Mercedes drivers went side-by-side into Turn 1, Russell having to back out and losing a position to Tsunoda, both drivers on the hard tyre compared with those around them.

Leclerc and Norris gained a position before the end of the lap, Hadjar having run slightly wide at Turn 16 and losing momentum down the long start/finish straight, with Hamilton demoting the Frenchman several laps later for P9.

Out front, Verstappen had pulled a gap of 1.5s by the end of Lap 6 as Lawson was in DRS range of Sainz ahead, with Antonelli clear of the battling Tsunoda and Russell.

Back in the pack, Alonso in P11 was handed a five-second penalty for also jumping the start, apologising to his team after reacting to Piastri immediately in front of him on the grid.

By the start of Lap 10, Verstappen had extended his lead to 2.1s as Sainz still in second had broken DRS range to Lawson, while Russell finally moved back ahead of Tsunoda for fifth into Turn 3.

Tsunoda soon led a DRS train including Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton, with Hadjar in touching distance as the pecking order across the field briefly settled down, drivers focusing on tyre management for what was expected to be a one-stop race.

Bearman and Albon soon moved ahead of Gasly at Turn 1 and joined the back of another DRS train which was headed by Colapinto in P13 and included Stroll and Hulkenberg.

Albon pitted for hard tyres at the end of Lap 15 with Colapinto pitting shortly after, but the pair came together at Turn 5 with the Alpine driver sent into a spin before recovering, while the Williams man was handed a 10-second penalty.

Russell, meanwhile, stared to become frustrated stuck behind team mate Antonelli as the young Italian was unable to find a away to pass Lawson ahead for P3, with Sainz 4.5s up the road, the Spaniard in turn nearly 5s behind Verstappen on Lap 18.

It prompted Mercedes to bring Antonelli in at the end of the lap, swapping medium for hard tyres, with Ferrari bringing in Leclerc the following tour for the same compound of rubber.

Racing Bulls brought Lawson in at the end of Lap 20, the New Zealander just re-joining in front of Antonelli as the pair now circulated in P10-P11, with Russell promoted to third and three seconds ahead of Tsunoda, who led Norris and Hamilton.

Antonelli's breakthrough finally came at the end of the lap, drafting past Lawson on the start/finish straight with the help of DRS, with Albon doing the same to Alonso for P17 a lap later.

Out front, Verstappen led Sainz by seven seconds on Lap 23, the Spaniard four seconds to the good over Russell, who in turn was ahead of Tsunoda by the same margin, while Norris in fifth was nearly 17s behind Verstappen and unable to make progress on-track.

At the halfway point, Antonelli moved up to P8 at the expense of Bortoleto down the main straight, as Lawson and Leclerc soon began to close on the Kick Sauber driver, who was pitted at the end of Lap 26 and rejoined P16.

Sainz pitted from second on Lap 27, having held a gap of just over two seconds to Russell behind, the Williams driver rejoining in clean air back in sixth with the hard tyre and Verstappen's margin to Russell in P2 now at 12s.

Antonelli's margin to Sainz stood at 3s on Lap 30 as Hadjar pitted from in front of the Mercedes driver, the Racing Bulls rookie re-joining in P10 and just ahead of the yet-to-pit Stroll and Hulkenberg.

While Leclerc in P9 was unable to pass Lawson ahead, further back there was movement as Bortoleto and Albon both demoted Ocon into Turn 1, the pair quickly doing the same to Hulkenberg.

Norris in P4, meanwhile, was told to get closer to Tsunoda having dropped two seconds adrift on the medium tyres, with Hamilton behind stopping at the end of Lap 36 and re-joining down in P9.

The following lap, Norris was called in to put on a fresh set of hard tyres but a problem with the front-right caused a 4.1s pit stop and meant he re-joined behind the Lawson/Leclerc battle in P8.

Red Bull responded on the following lap, and although Tsunoda re-joined in front of Lawson, the Racing Bulls driver made the pass on the run to Turn 3 which give him some breathing space to Leclerc and Norris immediately behind.

A 2.3s pit stop from Mercedes meant Russell rejoined still in P2 ahead of Sainz, who in turn was ahead of Antonelli, Lawson, Tsunoda, Leclerc and Norris, the McLaren driver looking quick on a fresher set of tyres and passing the Ferrari at the end of Lap 40.

Just moments earlier, Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of medium tyres and comfortably re-joined in a lead he never relinquished and would hold until the end of the race.

Leclerc would lose a further spot to Hamilton, the Briton now 3s behind Norris, who was on the back of Tsunoda and Lawson in the battle for fifth with eight laps remaining.

Despite intense pressure, Lawson was able to hold on for a career-best result while Tsunoda had to defend from Norris into Turn 1 at the start of the final lap.

The order remained unchanged, though, Verstappen taking back-to-back wins and closing to within 69 points of Piastri in the Drivers' Championship with seven races remaining.

Russell claimed second having been suffering from an illness all weekend, while Sainz completed the podium – his first for Williams – having held Antonelli at bay in the closing stages.

Lawson headed Tsunoda and Norris, with McLaren missing out on claiming the Constructors' Championship this weekend after the team's worst performance of the season.

The Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc claimed eighth and ninth on a difficult day for the Scuderia, with Hadjar completing the top 10.

Bortoleto was next followed by Bearman, Albon, and Ocon, who started last after the rear wing on his Haas was found to be illegal after Qualifying.

Alonso, Hulkenberg, Stroll and the two Alpines of Gasly and Colapinto completed the order, with Piastri the sole retirement.

Key quote

"I think this weekend has been incredible for us," said Verstappen after back-to-back wins. "Of course, last weekend was already great, but for us to win here again is just fantastic. I think also in the race, the car was working really well on both of the compounds. We had clean air all of the time and then you could look after your tyres, and it was pretty straightforward. Of course, it’s not easy around here. It was very windy today, so the car was always moving around a lot, but of course, I’m incredibly happy with this performance.”

What’s next

F1 will travel from Baku to Marina Bay for the Singapore Grand Prix over the weekend of October 3-5. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.