Verstappen dominates Baku F1 race, Piastri crashes out on the opening lap
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen converted his pole position into victory to secure his second triumph at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed out on the opening lap, but his team-mate Lando Norris could hardly capitalize on the Australian's mistake as he finished in a disappointing seventh place.
Max Verstappen grabbed a surprise pole position yesterday in highly challenging conditions, and he managed to convert it into an utterly dominant victory.
The Dutchman had a great launch off the line, but had to control things due to an early safety car interruption. The SC was deployed for championship leader, Oscar Piastri.
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.
After the safety car interruption, Verstappen had everything under control, leading all 51 laps and winning by over 14 seconds from Mercedes' George Russell. The Briton initially dropped back to fifth, but he managed to display brilliant pace on his hard tyres, extending his first stint, and rejoined the track second after his sole pit stop.
Williams driver Carlos Sainz spent the first half of the race in second place behind Verstappen, but was unable to keep that position as Russell displayed eye-catching pace towards the end of his long opening stint. The Spaniard nevertheless claimed his first podium for Williams.
Kimi Antonelli narrowly missed out on the final step of the podium, having run well all day. The Italian looked in contention for the podium places, but he pitted early which may have been a mistake considering his team-mate’s pace on worn tyres.
Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson claimed a career-best result with a fifth-place finish, ahead of Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda.
Lando Norris finished seventh – the same position the McLaren driver started having struggled to make any progress through the sole pit stop sequence. His team-mate’s retirement had opened the door for Norris to eat into Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ standings but he only managed to reduce the gap by six points.
Despite a promising start for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Ferrari struggled for pace, and the Briton and the Monegasque ended up only eighth and ninth.
Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar completed the top 10. Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto 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.
Nico Hulkenberg finished in P16 on a weekend when Sauber never really looked strong, followed by Lance Stroll and the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.
