Verstappen Dominates in Baku: Russell and Sainz on the Podium, Piastri Out

Verstappen Dominates Azerbaijan Grand Prix; McLaren Suffers

Max Verstappen took the victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while McLaren had a chaotic weekend on the streets of Baku. Oscar Piastri suffered an accident on the first lap, and Lando Norris finished in seventh position. After a disastrous qualifying session for McLaren on Saturday, Verstappen started from the pole position. Norris and Piastri, for their part, started the race from seventh and ninth position, respectively. Piastri’s race was compromised from the start. He moved forward before the lights went out, activating his car’s anti-stall system and falling to the back of the grid at the first corner. In his attempt to regain positions, Piastri went off track at turn 5, locking the brakes and crashing into the barriers.

I think I underestimated the grip level. Probably a lot of that is due to the dirty air [from the cars in front], but I know I shouldn’t expect that lack of grip. Certainly, I don’t blame anything else. It was two simple mistakes on my part that I caused today.

Oscar Piastri

The incident marked the end of a weekend plagued by errors for Piastri, who also crashed in qualifying. This represented an opportunity for his teammate, Norris, to cut points in the championship. However, just as he couldn’t take advantage of Piastri’s mistake in qualifying, Norris also failed to capitalize on the situation in the race, finishing in seventh position.

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Despite the results, Norris managed to reduce the difference in the standings to 25 points, the same amount as a victory, with seven races remaining until the end of the season. Norris could have secured fifth position and added four additional points if it weren’t for a slow pit stop, which frustrated his chances of overtaking Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) in sixth position and Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) in fifth. A Piastri was given a five-second penalty for his jump start, but, according to FIA guidelines, it will not be converted into a grid penalty for the next race.

Just a miscalculation with the lights, I guess trying to anticipate it too much. Yeah, a simple mistake and then it went into the anti-stall system and it was all downhill from there, so just a simple mistake.

Oscar Piastri

McLaren’s meager points haul this year also prevented the team from securing the defense of the constructors’ championship, which will likely be decided in the next round in Singapore. Verstappen’s victory, his fourth of the season and the second in a row after winning two weeks ago in Monza, now puts him 69 points ahead of Piastri in the drivers’ championship.

This weekend has been incredible for us. Monza was already great, but for us to win here is fantastic. The car worked very well with both compounds. We had clean air all the time, so we were able to take care of the tires, and it was quite straightforward… it’s never easy around here, a lot of wind today, so the car was moving a lot. I am incredibly happy with this performance.

Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver dominated the race, maintaining the first position from the start, followed by Carlos Sainz, who started second on the grid. Sainz managed to hold onto third position, achieving the first podium for Williams since their second place in the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, which was affected by rain. George Russell, with an alternative strategy, moved from fifth to second place for Mercedes.

I can’t describe how happy I am and how good this feels. It tastes even better than my first podium. We have been fighting hard all year and we showed that when we had speed, we had it all year and everything comes together and we can do incredible things together. We nailed the race, not a single mistake, and we managed to beat many cars [on Saturday] that we didn’t expect to beat.

Carlos Sainz

For his part, Russell, who was not feeling well over the weekend, commented:

First of all, congratulations to Carlos and Williams. An incredible result for them. For us, very happy to be back on the podium. It’s been a bit of a tough weekend for me personally, but the car was great. Kimi [Antonelli] also in P4, so I’m happy with that. I was very happy when I saw the checkered flag, to be honest. Fortunately, I felt much better today than on Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to resting a bit now, but happy with the result.

George Russell

The combined result of Russell and Antonelli (2-4) ensured that Mercedes moved up to second place in the constructors’ championship, four points ahead of Ferrari. Lawson’s fifth place was the best of his career, while Tsunoda, who replaced Lawson at Red Bull after two rounds at the beginning of the season, achieved his best result of the season with the Red Bull team. Lewis Hamilton finished in eighth position, at the tail end of the battle for fifth place between Lawson, Tsunoda and Norris. The seven-time champion ceded eighth position to his teammate Charles Leclerc, who withdrew from the fight for a position in the top six after entering the pits significantly earlier than his rivals. Hamilton tried to give the position back to Leclerc at the end of the race, but he failed to overtake the cars in front of him, although he crossed the finish line ahead of his teammate. Isack Hadjar secured the last point at stake for Racing Bulls.