After a dramatic weekend in Baku, the Formula 1 grid leaves the Land of Fire behind to head to Singapore.
And one of the sport’s living legends has thrust himself right back into the title race.
Max Verstappen’s win in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, his second consecutive victory following his P1 in the Italian Grand Prix, has brought him within just 69 points of Oscar Piastri in the Drivers’ Championship standings, and to within 44 points of second-place Lando Norris. While the math remains on McLaren’s side, the last thing you want to see on the F1 grid is Verstappen in your rear-view mirror.
Let’s take a look back at the weekend that was with some winners and losers from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
With two wins in as many races, Max Verstappen has given his fans a chance to dream about a fifth Drivers’ Championship.
Even if the driver himself is putting off thinking about the title until after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
But after dominating the grid at the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen delivered another pristine performance in Azerbaijan, driving away from the field over 51 laps around the tricky Baku City Circuit to take the win by over 14 seconds ahead of George Russell.
“They’re all a bit different, but I think this weekend has been incredible for us. Of course, last weekend was already great. But yeah, for us to win here again is just fantastic,” said Verstappen trackside after the race. “And I think also in the race, the car was working really well. On both of the compounds, we had clean air all the time, and you could then look after your tyres. And yeah, it was pretty straightforward. Of course, it’s not easy around here — very windy today, so the car is always moving around a lot. But yeah, of course, incredibly happy with this performance.”
Verstappen now trails Oscar Piastri by 69 points in the title race and sits just 44 points behind second-place Lando Norris. This represents a bigger gap than the advantage Verstappen enjoyed over Norris at this point last season, so the math does not exactly work in his favor for Verstappen to mount a true comeback.
But if anyone could mount such a challenge, it is Max Verstappen.
The scenes after the checkered flag told the story.
First, there was the emotion over the radio as Carlos Sainz Jr. crossed the line in third, capturing his first podium as a driver for Williams and delivering his inaugural “smooth operation” for his new team:
Then there was a sprint from his FW47 to celebrate with his team:
“Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am, how good this feels. This is even better than my first-ever podium that I did,” said Sainz after the race in the FIA Press Conference. “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 everything comes together, we can do some amazing things together. And yeah, 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.”
After joining Williams, Sainz made it clear that he believed in Team Principal James Vowles, and the boss’s vision was rewarded with Sainz’s first Williams podium on Sunday.
Speaking after the race, Vowles outlined that Sainz earned his P3 on merit, and that his podium was a moment he will remember forever:
And Sainz is still driving his socks off. Charles Leclerc, his former Ferrari teammate, shared this video on social media of Sainz chauffeuring Leclerc and others home through Italy after their flight was diverted due to a storm:
An incredible weekend for Sainz.
The week began with one Mercedes driver so ill he thought he might miss the race, and the other looking to rebound after an Italian Grand Prix that his boss Toto Wolff described as “underwhelming.”
It ended with one driver on the podium in P2, and the other just off the podium in P4.
Mercedes arguably could not have asked for a better weekend in Baku, as George Russell overcame a respiratory infection to finish second behind Verstappen for his seventh podium of the year, and his best finish since winning the Canadian Grand Prix.
After the race, Russell conceded that had this been another weekend, he might have been unable to race.
“Well, fortunately, it was Baku. Even though it’s one of the toughest circuits, mentally and physically it’s maybe one of the easiest. So today I’m much better. Friday and Saturday, I was really rough. And, you know, had it been Singapore, as an example, I think I probably would have called it a day on Friday, to be honest, and probably wouldn’t have done the race,” said Russell. “So, yeah, sort of fortunate timing. And I haven’t been ill for a couple of years, actually, so it just all sort of hit me at once these days, but I’m on the up now.”
On the other side of the garage, Kimi Antonelli, whose Italian Grand Prix was described as “underwhelming” by Team Principal Toto Wolff, rebounded with his best drive since finishing third in the Canadian Grand Prix, to come across the line in P4.
While Antonelli struck a subdued tone after the race, it was a strong rebound performance that the rookie needed after Monza.
“Whilst I was hoping for more, today was still a decent result and with George in second, a good day for us as a team. We gained a lot of points on Ferrari which is a positive and moved back into second in the Constructors’ Championship,” said Antonelli in the team’s post-race media report. “The pace across the field is tight but hopefully we can carry the momentum from here in Baku into Singapore in two weeks’ time.”
Zooming out for a moment, the results saw Mercedes edge four points ahead of Ferrari in the fight for second behind McLaren.
“That was a strong weekend for us as a team, and we come away from Azerbaijan with a good result. It felt good to get back on the podium in P2 and for Kimi to bring home solid points in P4. Of course, we are always hoping to be on the top step of the podium, but this gives us some positive momentum after two difficult races after the summer break,” added Wolff in the team’s post-race report.
McLaren arrived in Baku with a chance to secure their second consecutive Constructors’ Championship, and move either Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris closer to their first Drivers’ title.
The champagne waits on ice as the grid heads to Singapore, and now Piastri and Norris have to worry about the looming Max Verstappen in their rear-view mirrors.
While the Woking-based team has been near-perfect this season, Azerbaijan was their first true clunker of the season. Both Piastri and Norris scuffled in Q3 on Saturday as both drivers hit the wall in the final segment of qualifying. Piastri’s contact with the barrier left him in ninth, opening the door for Norris to perhaps take pole position and put some distance between himself and his teammate, but he then brushed the wall at Turn 15. The contact was not enough to end his lap, but it compromised his speed and left him in seventh, just in front of his teammate on the grid.
Then came Sunday. Piastri jumped the lights at the start, and when he stopped his car, the MCL39 went into anti-stall for a moment. That compromised his launch off the line, shuffling him to the back of the grid right after the beginning of the race.
As he tried to get back into the fight on the opening lap, he broke late at Turn 5, locking up the front left and sliding into the wall, ending his race before it truly began.
“Certainly not my finest moment,” he told Sky Sports F1. “I just anticipated the start too much, and it was a silly, simple error with that. Then, the crash – I just didn’t anticipate the dirty air in the way I should have. I clearly went into the corner way too hot and that was that.
“The grip level was low, but I should have known that. I’m certainly not blaming it on anything other than myself, I just didn’t make the judgement calls that I needed to at the right time, and that’s obviously disappointing.”
That opened the door for Norris again. With Piastri out of the race, a win in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday would have seen Norris close the gap between the two McLaren teammates to just six points with seven race weekends remaining.
But Norris lost a position to Isack Hadjar on the opening lap, dropping down to eighth. And on the Safety Car restart following Piastri’s crash, Charles Leclerc got the jump on him, shuffling him down to ninth.
While Norris was able to pick those spots back over the course of the race, he could not get past Yuki Tsunoda ahead of him and ended the day where he began.
Seventh place, and a gain of six points on Piastri. The gap is now down to 25 points between the pair, but it was a missed opportunity for Norris.
Even if he did not see it that way.
“I did everything I can. The opportunities were there. I maximise every single weekend like I can,” said Norris after the race. “It’s not a missed opportunity. Every race is an opportunity. Today we just weren’t good enough and made too many mistakes yesterday.”
The grid now heads to Singapore, and the math remains in their favor in both title races.
But this was a difficult weekend for McLaren.
While Max Verstappen’s win captured the headlines, the entire team enjoyed a tremendous weekend in Azerbaijan.
Yuki Tsunoda, under increasing pressure to keep a seat in F1 for next season, finished sixth on Sunday, his best result in the sport since his sixth-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix during his rookie season. What made Sunday’s result notable was the fact that he kept Lando Norris behind him for almost the entire 51-lap race, and while Tsunoda might have wanted to try and chase down Liam Lawson in front of him, he had a good reason for avoiding that fight.
“Especially [with a] McLaren behind, [I was] thinking about the championship, both the team and drivers’ championship for Max,” Tsunoda said after the race.
“There were a lot of opportunities I could probably go inside and attack Liam, but there’s a lot more risk that maybe the McLaren will overtake both of us, or either [of us],” he added.
“So I think as a Red Bull [driver], you don’t want to have that, and I think I did the right decision [by] not challenging him. But at the same time I didn’t have enough pace also to overtake comfortably.”
Then there is Laurent Mekies. Announced as the new Team Principal following the shocking sacking of Christian Horner, Mekies has stabilized the operation since taking over after the British Grand Prix. In his five races in charge, Mekies has delivered a pair of wins and a P2 from Verstappen, as well as Tsunoda’s best result since joining the senior team.
Then there is the driver who finished in front of Yuki Tsunoda, who is also under increasing pressure to keep his spot in F1 for next season.
All Liam Lawson did on Sunday was deliver his best result since joining the grid.
Lawson’s fifth-place finish came after his stunning performance on Saturday, where he qualified third behind only Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. While he “didn’t have the speed” to fight at the front, Lawson came home fifth to cap off his best weekend in F1.
“The race felt rewarding, particularly after the last ten to fifteen laps, which was pretty intense,” said Lawson in the team’s post-race report. “Obviously it’s a little disappointing from where we were starting, but realistically we didn’t have the speed to fight with the guys in front today, despite always being hopeful. To have a P5 is big for us, especially in the Championship right now. We’ve had a good car all weekend thanks to the team, so I’m pleased to be coming home with points. We gave it everything!”
Lawson’s boss praised his “perfect” final stint.
“I’m really pleased for Liam; a career best for him with 5th place. He put together 20 perfect laps towards the end, keeping those cars behind him,” said Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane.
According to multiple reports, Lawson and Tsunoda are battling for one of the two spots at VCARB next season, with Isack Hadjar earning a promotion to the senior team. Young Arvid Lindblad is reportedly going to join VCARB, perhaps as early as this season, leaving one spot available in the Red Bull family.
Both Lawson and Tsunoda made strong cases on Sunday for that final seat.
This was simply a lost weekend for Alpine in Azerbaijan. Both Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto started at the back of the field, and finished there as well. Gasly started in P18 and came across the line in the same spot, and Colapinto slid back to P19 after starting in P16, due in part to a collision with Alexander Albon that saw the Williams driver be given a penalty for causing the incident.
“That was a very difficult day and not a good one for us as a team,” said Gasly in the team’s post-race report. “We just lacked pace here all weekend. This track has proved difficult for us, more so than at recent races, and we have to take the lessons where we can as, even with the car we have, we really should not be finishing so far off. We have some ideas on the areas we lack and where we need to improve but something has really not clicked here and it has been a bit of a trend at the last few weekends.”
Complicating matters for Gasly might be a lack of confidence he is dealing with regarding the A525.
“I am not feeling great in the car right now like I did earlier in the season so that is something we need to turnaround,” added Gasly.
However, the veteran driver believes the team can make the most of the situation.
“This is the package we have, and I know we will sit down together, work hard and aim to come back stronger from the next race,” continued Gasly.
That work resumes now for Alpine.
