AZERBAIJAN LOWDOWN: All the key moments as Verstappen wins, Piastri crashes out and Sainz bags a surprise podium

Azerbaijan’s Baku City Circuit played host to another action-packed Grand Prix last weekend, one that brought back-to-back wins for Max Verstappen, multiple crashes for championship leader Oscar Piastri, a stunning podium for Williams racer Carlos Sainz and much more...

Verstappen’s impressive victory means he is now a much-reduced 69 points off the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings, while Lando Norris has cut his team mate’s advantage from 31 points to 25, despite his low-key race.

With lots to digest throughout the field, here is F1.com’s usual post-race round up of everything that happened on the streets of Baku...

Verstappen and Red Bull go back-to-back

Such has been the level of dominance enjoyed by Verstappen in recent years, it seems difficult to believe that the Dutchman’s back-to-back successes in Italy and Azerbaijan are his first since Canada and Spain in 2024.

Further still, prior to this weekend, he last scored three podiums in a row in the races leading up to and including Imola last year.

When asked during the weekend if Verstappen is still in the title fight, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella was clear, saying: “A firm YES. Can you write it in capitals? Because it was quoted in capitals.”

Now with another win under his belt and a significantly reduced points gap of 69 to championship leader Piastri, it’s hard to disagree with this assessment.

Beyond Verstappen’s success, however, the performance of Yuki Tsunoda in Baku must also be given due credit. His struggles since joining Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix have been evident, but the Azerbaijan weekend was strong across the board.

Tsunoda qualified well as numerous others made significant errors, and then his under-the-radar drive to sixth place was comfortably his best result since the switch.

A nightmare weekend for Piastri

Piastri headed into the Baku weekend fielding a host of questions about McLaren’s team orders drama last time out at the Italian Grand Prix, meaning he was probably rather relieved to get into the cockpit for Friday practice and focus on the driving.

However, the Australian’s programme got off to a tricky start when a power unit problem forced him back to the pits in FP1, before he spent the rest of the day chasing the balance and trying to build some confidence in the lead up to Qualifying.

As the grid-deciding session came around, particularly tough conditions caught several drivers out, including Piastri when he ran out of road and dramatically slammed into the barriers in the Q3 phase – leaving him ninth on the grid for race day.

Piastri’s efforts to make amends were undone immediately when he jumped the race start, came to a brief halt and tumbled down the order. Attempting to recover some of that lost ground, he locked up and crashed again at Turn 5, ending his day there and then.

It was a disastrous outcome for the 24-year-old, who dropped points to both Norris and Verstappen in the championship standings, though the situation could have been a lot worse had his team mate finished higher up the order than P7.

Norris refused to see it as a missed opportunity, though, saying after the race: “I did everything I can. The opportunities were there. I maximise every single weekend like I can. It’s not a missed opportunity. Every race is an opportunity. Today we just weren’t good enough and made too many mistakes yesterday.”

Russell battles through illness for P2

With a croaky voice just about audible over the radio and having been excused from all media duties ahead of Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix due to illness, George Russell’s spirits would have been lifted by an unlikely podium on the streets of Baku.

The Mercedes driver proved to be best of the rest behind the dominant Verstappen after an impressive performance of his own, which included using Pirelli’s hard rubber during his first stint in contrast to many around him.

Having lined up fifth, Russell lost a position to Yuki Tsunoda at the Safety Car restart after attempting to pass team mate Kimi Antonelli around the outside at Turn 1, but was soon back ahead of the Red Bull driver.

Thereafter, Russell stayed out longer than his rivals, vaulting Antonelli, Liam Lawson and front-row starter Carlos Sainz during the sole pit stop sequence to claim his seventh rostrum of the campaign.

“I don’t think we did anything spectacular, it’s just a lot of people made a lot of mistakes this weekend between Qualifying and the race,” he said. “Temperatures are cold here. It was more a case of keeping temperature in the tyre, which is where we excel.”

Sainz’s first Williams ‘Smooth Operation’

Having just missed out on a shock pole position, Sainz vowed that he would “stick it on the podium” during the race, which seemed like wishful thinking given the faster packages starting behind him and a two-kilometre straight to defend on.

But with overtaking proving difficult and a maturity which allowed the Spaniard to claim four victories for Ferrari, Sainz put in the performance of the race to secure his first podium for Williams having only lost a position to George Russell in the pit stop sequence.

It capped off a remarkable weekend for a driver who had only secured 13 points prior to Baku, and having almost given Williams their first pole position in more than a decade during a Qualifying session which witnessed a record six red flags.

“I cannot describe how happy I am or how good this feels,” Sainz said after hopping out of the car. “It tastes even better than the first-ever podium that I did.

“We’ve been fighting hard all year and finally today we just proved that when we have the speed… we’ve had it all year, and when everything comes together, we can do some amazing things together. We nailed the race – not one mistake.”

Ferrari’s strong start dramatically tails off

Ferrari came into Baku with the strong sense that they would be behind McLaren and Red Bull in the City of Wind, and somewhere on a par with Mercedes. That suspicion proved short-lived, with both drivers impressing in Friday practice.

Charles Leclerc finished third and second in the opening session, while Lewis Hamilton topped FP2. As such, hopes were high of a strong Qualifying at a track where Leclerc had nabbed the last four pole positions.

But things unravelled fast for the Scuderia in Qualifying, with Leclerc accidentally hampering his team mate in Q2 before a strategy blunder cost Hamilton a chance to progress to the top 10. The Monegasque driver then crashed in Q3, relegating himself to a P10 starting slot, just two places ahead of his team mate.

Although both cars made up positions off the line on Sunday and even spent chunks of the race fighting with the McLaren of Norris, neither had the pace to make inroads up the order.

Even the finish proved tricky for the team to manage, as Hamilton slowed to let his team mate pass on the last lap – but not enough, the seven-time World Champion finishing ahead of Leclerc, who had let him through earlier on.

Eighth and ninth was a far cry from what Friday promised, with Hamilton still hunting his first podium for the team in a season where Nico Hulkenberg, Isack Hadjar and now Sainz have all finished on the rostrum.

Baku delivers yet again

In advertising the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, promoters used the tagline ‘Expect the Unexpected’, and this was certainly true again across a dramatic 2025 edition of the Baku race.

The challenging and at times extremely narrow layout always provides plenty of action, with the often high winds adding a level of difficulty to areas of the track that appear simple to the eye.

This difficulty level was never more evident than in Qualifying on Saturday, when a record-breaking six red flags were shown for incidents involving Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Ollie Bearman, Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto, Leclerc, and Piastri.

While the race may have been a slightly more sedate affair, it still provided a significant twist in the championship tale, with Piastri crashing his McLaren on the opening lap, gifting rivals Verstappen and Norris the chance to close ground in the season-long battle.

With drama always high here, the announcement of an extension to the Baku City Circuit’s contract through 2030 was great news for fans, with the excitement set to continue well into the future.