Verstappen dominates in Baku for easy win; Russell rallies through illness for P2, Sainz earns maiden Williams podium in P3; Piastri crashes out on opening lap but P7 Norris fails to truly capitalize

Red Bull ace Max Verstappen earned his second victory in a row with a dominant win from pole at Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. At the highly technical yet also high speed Baku City Circuit, Verstappen showed his flawless precision and race management, leading every lap of the 51-lap contest, setting the fastest lap and gapping the second place Mercedes of George Russell by a whopping 14.6 seconds at the finish. Carlos Sainz capitalized on his somewhat fortunate P2 starting position after Saturday’s highly chaotic qualifying to earn his first podium with Williams in P3. Meanwhile, McLaren had a weekend to forget, as championship points leader Oscar Piastri followed up his crash out in Q3 on Saturday with a very similar shunt on the race’s opening lap that ended his day in dramatic fashion. But despite being fated to score zero points on the day, teammate and chief championship rival Lando Norris could not make up much ground due to his own mediocre qualifying effort, the young Briton finishing exactly where he started when all was said and done in P7. Norris was therefore only able to reduce his deficit to Piastri by 6 points, the Aussie still retaining a 25-point cushion with seven rounds remaining. Still, as the home stretch of the 2025 season comes into view, Piastri looks mentally vulnerable for the first time and he will be staring at the walls of another very claustrophobic street circuit when the teams unload in Singapore in two weeks.

A race to forget for Oscar 😖#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/J5IMgst1Qf

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 21, 2025

Kimi Antonelli continued his recent resurgence, making it an excellent day for the Silver Arrows by complimenting Russell’s P2 with a solid fourth place result. Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson also had an excellent race, holding off multiple contenders in the final laps to secure an impressive P5. Teammate Isack Hadjar also contributed to the Racing Bulls points haul by coming home in P10.  Those unable to pass Lawson as the laps ran out were the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, who nevertheless placed an encouraging P6, as well as the frustrated Norris in P7 and the best placed Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton in P8. Hamilton got the better of his Scuderia stablemate Charles Leclerc with a pass late in the going, relegating the Monegasque to P9. Regardless, it was not a strong weekend for Ferrari and they will be keen to leave Baku behind for Singapore and the friendly confines of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, where they have traditionally run very well under the lights.

Top 10 finishers of the Azerbaijan GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight at another demanding street circuit — the nighttime Singapore GP from the beautifully illuminated Marina Bay Street Circuit. Verstappen will be looking to keep his mojo working, Piastri will surely be looking to regroup while Norris ratchets up the pressure, Mercedes will try to keep climbing and Ferrari will be desperate to get back to the sharp end of the field. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!