Max Verstappen dominated Formula One’s 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed out on the first lap.
Verstappen’s only moment of jeopardy was the start, which Piastri jumped and fell to the rear of the pack after stopping again in his grid box. But the Red Bull driver stayed ahead of Carlos Sainz on the short run to Baku’s first corner.
As Verstappen shot clear, Piastri battled the backmarkers through the opening corners before he made an uncharacteristic error: Locking up at Turn 5 and sliding straight into the barriers.
The crash brought out the safety car for four laps of the 51-race grand prix, after which Verstappen easily dropped Sainz and marched clear at the front. As Red Bull had started Verstappen on the hard tires, he steadily increased his pace and then stopped late in the race when his rivals had already come in from a long way behind.
There were two stories to follow behind Verstappen’s stroll to victory, as Sainz held second all the way to his pitstop at the halfway stage, before George Russell overcame him. At the same time, Lando Norris made heavy weather of making progress from his seventh-place starting spot with his title rival out. Another slow McLaren pitstop then hampered Norris.
Russell jumped Sainz by mirroring Verstappen’s late-stopping strategy, but Sainz held onto the third ahead of Kimi Antonelli to claim Williams’ first podium since the 2021 Spa washout.
Behind, Liam Lawson held off Yuki Tsunoda for fifth, where Norris likely would have finished but for the slow right-front tire change at his stop. He had chased Charles Leclerc and Tsunoda until coming in on Lap 38, but the delay cost Norris the chance to get ahead, and he was trapped behind the Red Bull to the finish.
Lewis Hamilton ended up ahead of Leclerc in the final stint, as they took eighth and ninth for Ferrari, with Isack Hadjar 10th, having survived a pre-race hydraulics problem aboard his Racing Bulls car.
Our experts, Luke Smith and Madeline Coleman, analyse the action in Baku.
Is Verstappen a title threat?
After keeping cool through the chaos of qualifying on Saturday to take pole, Max Verstappen was serene and supreme yet again, making victory look extremely easy.
Two weeks on from his comprehensive defeat of the McLarens at Monza, Verstappen again dominated despite the unusual strategy choice of starting on hard tires. The lack of grip didn’t hurt him at the start as he easily covered off Sainz, who was on the quicker medium tire, and then allowed Verstappen to go very deep into the race before pitting.
Verstappen built a comfortable buffer to the rest of the pack, giving him breathing room to react to any shenanigans that could have unfolded behind. It was a race all about careful management, keeping calm to secure back-to-back wins for the first time since Spain and Canada last year.
With Piastri’s retirement, it’s undoubtedly time to start discussing the possibility of Verstappen becoming a serious threat again in the title race, which has long looked like a two-car battle between the McLarens. Verstappen’s deficit to Piastri has fallen from 104 points to just 69 in two race weekends, and Red Bull has rediscovered some of the pace that went missing through the middle of the season.
With seven races, three sprints, and 199 points still on offer, if Verstappen can keep this kind of form up, he could yet blow this title fight open.
Luke Smith
Oscar Piastri looks on after crashing out. (Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
How damaging could this weekend be for Piastri?
This was an incredibly out-of-character weekend for Piastri. The world championship leader had not made a critical error since the very first race in Australia, when he slid off the track in the rain. In Baku, he made three in less than 24 hours.
After his qualifying crash on Saturday, Piastri lined up ninth on the grid, only to jump the start — one of the most basic errors a driver can make. After trying to stop his car, Piastri was still while the lights went green and the cars behind swept ahead, leaving him near the back of the field before locking up at Turn 6 and going straight into the barrier.
It turned the narrative of this year’s title fight on its head. Whereas Norris had been paying the price for minor errors, Piastri didn’t falter — until he did, in pretty spectacular fashion.
Piastri will want to brush it off and reset in Singapore, knowing he still has the advantage in the title race. But it’ll serve as one of the biggest tests the Australian has yet faced in his bid for a first world championship, bouncing back from a bitterly disappointing weekend.
The only crumb of comfort for Piastri was that Norris failed to capitalize on his teammate’s misfortune, just as he did on Saturday when he only qualified seventh. He got picked off by Isack Hadjar on the first start and then by Charles Leclerc after the safety car, prompting McLaren to go long to get the overcut on the cars ahead.
But a slow pit stop meant Norris emerged behind Lawson and Tsunoda, having been on course to jump them, resigning him to seventh place at the checkered flag. It’s still a six-point gain on Piastri, cutting the gap to 25 points heading to Singapore — but it could (and perhaps should) have been so much more.
Luke Smith
Sainz celebrates ‘best moment’ of his career
Sainz qualifying second was a shock. His flying lap was impressive enough to land him on provisional pole position until Verstappen stormed past with his final trip around Baku City Circuit, but he did so in a Williams, a team that struggled for points just a few years ago.
But new life has been breathed into the project when James Vowles took over as team principal in 2023, with Alex Albon leading the team since 2022.
Sainz’s debut season with the team hasn’t been as consistent or as flashy as his Ferrari days. But the Spaniard knows he has the speed, and the team is focused on challenging in 2026.
With a P2 start, the Azerbaijan GP presented the possibility of showcasing his speed and potential when everything comes together. He just needed a clean day — and he got one.
Carlos Sainz celebrates with his team in parc ferme after the race.(Clive Rose/Getty Images)
It became clear early on that a podium finish could be possible. With Lawson having to try to keep the Mercedes duo behind him to protect his P3 start, Sainz had breathing room, a healthy gap to Verstappen ahead and the Racing Bulls behind. It would have taken something quite chaotic for Sainz to challenge Verstappen for the win.
The Spaniard pitted around Lap 28 and emerged ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Lawson, and it became a waiting game for when those in front of Sainz would dive in for fresh tires. He steadily moved up the grid, running in third place after Tsunoda pitted on Lap 39, but Russell stood in his way for second place. The Mercedes driver pitted and emerged on Lap 40 ahead of Sainz by over a second.
Russell began pulling away on fresher rubber, the gap sitting around 4.3 seconds on Lap 45 out of 51, and Antonelli was 1.8 seconds behind Sainz.
In the end, Sainz had done enough to hand Williams its first podium of the current regulations. The last time a Williams driver stood among the top three was Russell after the shortened 2021 Belgian GP, but this is the first full points awarded podium since Lance Stroll after the 2017 Azerbaijan GP.
Madeline Coleman
The big battle no one expected: Racing Bulls vs Mercedes
As the Azerbaijan GP wore on, it was a Racing Bulls versus Mercedes battle, specifically Lawson versus Antonelli.
The New Zealand driver qualified third after a red flag-filled session, one that set a new F1 record. And the opportunity for a major points haul — or maybe a podium finish — came at a time when there’s plenty of conversation around who will have the second Red Bull seat next year, a decision the team isn’t rushing.
But maintaining his third-place start proved hard, even with racing through the sometimes narrow confines of a street circuit, given both Mercedes, both Ferraris and the other Red Bull of Tsunoda were closing in behind him.
Liam Lawson in the garage ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. (Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
But by Lap 19, Lawson was still hanging onto a potential podium finish, running around 4.6 seconds off Sainz. It came with the caveat that a majority of the field still needed to do their first pit stops. Lawson had become a cork in the bottle, so to speak, the Mercedes duo of Antonelli and George Russell hot on his tail. By trying to keep the Silver Arrows back, it created a bit of breathing room for Sainz.
It seemed almost inevitable that the Mercedes would get past the Racing Bulls, though. Antonelli pitted before Lawson, and when the Racing Bulls driver emerged from the pits on Lap 21 just ahead of the Mercedes rookie, it didn’t take long for the Italian driver to pass Lawson, given his warmer tires. Sainz, later emerging from the pits ahead of Antonelli, seemingly sealed Lawson’s fate with the Williams, and both Mercedes ahead of him.
Regardless, a fifth-place finish and the 10 points that come with it are big for Lawson and Racing Bulls. It lifted the team ahead of Aston Martin in the constructor standings and Lawson past Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in the driver standings — major gains considering how tight the midfield is.
Madeline Coleman
Provisional race results (Top 10)
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Carlos Sainz, Williams
- Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
- Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
- Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
(Top photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images)
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