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Formula OneMax Verstappen took full advantage of a woeful weekend from McLaren to close in on the championship lead with an Azerbaijan GP win. The Dutchman is still 69 points from Oscar Piastri's P1 placement, but he was 104 points just two races ago before his back-to-back wins. It was a peerless drive from Verstappen, scoring another Grand Slam of pole, fastest lap, and leading every lap. But the attention will be on where it all went wrong for McLaren.
Both Piastri and teammate Lando Norris had struggled around the Baku streets from Friday's Free Practice sessions. The pair repeatedly brushed against the walls, and Piastri ended his Qualifying session with a trip to the barriers. All of that was a precursor to what followed in the next half lap of the race, where Piastri's nightmare continued.
A jump start had the Australian hit the anti-stall on the grid, and he plummeted from P9 to the back. The problems continued five corners later, as Piastri frantically tried to regain the lost ground. Making an ambitious move around the outside of Esteban Ocon at Turn 5, the low-grip surface saw him understeer into the barrier and out of the race.
The resulting Safety Car proved the only slowdown of the remaining laps, and Verstappen judged the restart perfectly to retain the lead. His closest challenger was Carlos Sainz, whose well-timed Qualifying lap earned his Williams a P2 start. The mixed-up grid had Liam Lawson chasing the Spaniard, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in hot pursuit. Antonelli's first duel was with teammate George Russell, though, whom he outmuscled into the Turn 1 braking zone to keep P4 from the sister Mercedes.
Although the top spots were static, battling filled the points-scoring positions. Charles Leclerc had sped by Norris for P7 after the McLaren was slow at the restart, while Yuki Tsunoda took advantage of Russell's failed pass on Antonelli and grabbed P5. Lewis Hamilton fought by Isack Hadjar, too, as the top-10 squabbled in the opening laps.
Russell looked the fastest driver of the chasing pack, and he soon overtook Tsunoda for P5 into Turn 3. He joined the chase for P3, with Lawson losing ground to Sainz's second place and driving on his mirrors to keep Antonelli behind. The drivers would have to wait for the pit stops and fresh Pirelli rubber before they could attack and change positions, though.
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A mixture of tyre strategies had Verstappen and Russell happily extending the long tyre life of the Hard compound. Sainz, Lawson, and Antonelli all had to stop earlier, though, with the Medium tyre's speed fading as the laps ticked on. That change in Pirelli option was all Antonelli needed to finally make the move on Lawson, easing by the Racing Bulls driver with DRS on fresh tyres.
It wasn't all good news for Antonelli, though; Russell's continued extension of his stint proved the right call for the Briton. A well-executed overcut had the King's Lynn driver in clear air and pushing without distraction to gain time. He easily cleared not just Antonelli and Lawson, but also Sainz once he eventually stopped, leapfrogging to P2.
Pit stops also proved crucial for another Brit's fortunes, but not in the same way. Another slow stop for Norris, the second in two races, kept the McLaren driver behind Leclerc when he returned to the track, with more work to do. The McLaren's pace on the new Pirelli tyres helped him to finally get past Leclerc for P7 with some DRS assistance after his earlier sluggish restart. However, any hopes of more positions never came to fruition, and Norris' chance to close in on Piastri in any meaningful way also faded.
A visibly delighted Verstappen has gone from no chance of a fifth title in 2025 to an outside chance, but it was Carlos Sainz who had all the podium emotion. He retained P3 until the flag and declared this podium trip the best of his career, bringing Williams back their first trophy since 2021. F1 now has a weekend off before another street circuit trip, this time in Singapore, where night racing will return.
