Max Verstappen has beaten George Russell by over fourteen and a half seconds to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the four-time champion reminding McLaren that he could still pose a big threat as he closed the gap to sixty-nine points with seven races remaining.
Verstappen further underlined the progress that Red Bull has made since the summer break with back-to-back wins, as championship rivals Lando Norris could only recover to seventh, and Oscar Piastri retired after a weekend full of mistakes. Russell holding onto second, taking the same strategy as Verstappen to finish fourteen and a half seconds behind.
The Dutchman was on fire as he looked unstoppable, a reminder of the way he had dominated the sport up until last summer. He went long into the race as he built his lead at the front and when he did stop with ten laps to go, his gap was over thirty seconds, which allowed him to rejoin the race in the lead.
Red Bull felt they had made a breakthrough with their car at the previous race in Italy, with a new floor opening up a better balance than they had had for a year. But this is not conclusive proof as Baku is not dissimilar to Monza with its combination of long straights and slow corners, but it is certainly a warning shot across McLaren’s bows, even if their advantage remains sizeable.
Russell has been fighting illness all weekend but worked his way up from fifth to second, while Carlos Sainz held off the second Mercedes and finished two and a half seconds ahead of Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli. The Spaniard scored Williams’ first podium since Spa in 2021, which was scored by the Englishman.
Sainz consolidated his excellent qualifying performance with a strong race to take the final podium place, confirming the progress Williams have made this season. Liam Lawson continued his strong form to finish half a second ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, but as they both fight for their futures.
Verstappen said, “This weekend has been incredible for us. Monza was already great but for us to win here is fantastic. The car was working really well on both compounds. We had clean air all the time, so you could look after your tyres, and it was pretty straightforward.”
Sainz, who joined Williams this year after being replaced by Hamilton at Ferrari, said: “Honestly can’t describe how happy I am and how good this feels. It’s even better than my first ever podium that I had. Everything comes together and we can do some amazing things together and today, we nailed the race, not one mistake, and we managed to beat a lot of cars that yesterday I wasn’t expecting to beat.”
Lando Norris couldn’t take advantage of his teammate’s retirement early on. The second McLaren started out of position, after he and Piastri crashed in Q3 on Saturday, he could only manage seventh, two seconds ahead of the Ferrari’s. While Norris made good early progress, he then became stuck behind Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Having suffered a major blow at the Dutch Grand Prix in late August when a technical failure forced him to retire as Piastri won, Norris appeared to have been presented with the perfect opportunity to eat into his team-mate’s advantage.
McLaren then decided to go long in attempt to overcut the Ferrari’s, but while it looked to work on paper, Norris had a slow stop, which dropped him behind Lawson and Leclerc. However, he was then unable to find a way past the Red Bull in the final ten laps, with Tsunoda held him off on the final lap when Norris tried to overtake.
Things unravelled before the start of the race for Piastri; he jumped the start and had to stop again before getting underway. That dropped him to the back of the field into the first corner, and his race came to an end just five corners later.
He tried to go for an ambitious move around the outside of Esteban Ocon into Turn Five but found no grip and slid straight on into the barrier. Ocon, meanwhile, was having a decent race. After he was disqualified from qualifying for a technical breach, he worked his way to fourteenth
Norris should have been able to capitalise, but the Briton himself lost a place on the first lap to Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, the start of a frustrating race. The Englishman failing to make progress from seventh when he could have taken a big chunk out of Piastri’s point lead.
All the talk going into the race was whether McLaren could seal the constructors, but that, barring a major disaster in Singapore, appears to be a question of when. Hadjar completed the top ten as he finished nearly thirty seconds ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.
Bortoletto finished the race six and a half tenths ahead of Ollie Bearman with Alex Albon thirteen as he was given a ten-second penalty following a collision while trying to overtake his former teammate Franco Colapinto. Albon tried to go around the outside but his lunge saw him send the Alpine into a spin.
Fernando Alonso was also given a penalty for a jump start, as he finished a second and a half ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, the Sauber splitting the Aston Martin’s finishing sixteen seconds ahead of Lance Stroll. The two Alpines completed the classified finishers both a lap down, Pierre Gasly almost two and a half seconds ahead of Colapinto.
Related
- Azerbaijan GP – Qualifying Result
- AZERBAIJAN GP – Max Verstappen takes pole by half a second after six red flags in drama-fuelled qualifying
- AZERBAIJAN GP – Lando Norris fastest by nearly a quarter of a second from Max Verstappen in third practice
- AZERBAIJAN GP – Lewis Hamilton leads Ferrari one-two nearly a tenth faster than Charles Leclerc, as McLaren’s crash in second practice
- AZERBAIJAN GP – Lando Norris leads McLaren one-two three tenths faster than Oscar Piastri in first practice
- PRIXVIEW – Azerbaijan Grand Prix
