Max Verstappen dominated the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for George Russell and Carlos Sainz, who made his Maiden William’s stage performance, while championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed out of the race.
Piastri started the racing ninth after a non -characteristic crash in Q3 left him without a time, but he fell at the first turn after the start of the start. In his attempt to recover, the Australian enclosed in bend 5 and rammed in the barriers, immediately ended his race.
It was Piastri’s first failure to end a race since the 2023 Grand Prix of the United States almost two years ago, the second longest classification line in Formula 1 history.
It was also the second afternoon in succession Piastri had presented an open goal to teammate and title rival Lando Norris to close what had been a 31-point championship gap at the start of the weekend, but Norris was unable to capitalize before the second afternoon in a row. The Englishman started and ended the race seventh to get only six points out of his shortage, which is on 25 points with seven more rounds.
After a quick start, Verstappen never faced a challenge from behind. Clive Rose/Getty Images
But the title per mutations had no influence on the imperious afternoon of Verstappen at the front of the field. The reigning champion led every round of the race out of the post and set the fastest round of the afternoon to claim his sixth career Grand Slam, to be right with Lewis Hamilton and placed him two behind Stat leader Jim Clark.
The shortage of the Verstappen championship is 69 points.
“This weekend has been incredible to us,” he said. “For us to win here again is just fantastic.
“The car worked very well on both connections. We always had clean air, so you could take care of your tires. It was pretty simple. I am incredibly happy with this version.”
George Russell finished a distant second one, 14.6s from the management. It was two places in his starting position, the Brit won terrain by running deep into the race on his starting set of hard tires to overcome Liam Lawson, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Sainz for the place.
“I am really happy to be on stage again,” he said. “The car was great.
“For us as a team that Ferrari tried to beat in the constructors, it was a good step in the direction of.”
The result helped bring Mercedes to second place in the Constructors Championship, four points in front of Ferrari.
Sainz finished a popular and perfectly executed third. The Spaniard started second and took advantage of Lawson behind him who kept the Mercedes drivers through the opening stint, so that he built a valuable buffer to protect against Antonelli’s Undercut.
Russell got him with a longer opening tint, but although Antonelli put him under pressure in the second Stint, the newer tires of Sainz stopped in a skilled 24-round run to the checkered flag to take the first stage of Williams since the Belgian Grand Prix of 2021.
“I can’t describe how happy I am, how good this feels,” he said. “It tastes even better than my very first stage.
“We fought hard all year round, and in the end we have just proven today that when we have the speed – we have had it all year round – and everything comes together, we can do some great things together.
“Today we nailed the racing, not a mistake. We managed to beat many cars that I did not expect to beat yesterday. I am extremely proud of everyone at Williams.”
When third place feels like a victory. Simon Galloway/Getty images
Antonelli finished a laudable fourth, his best result since the Canadian Grand Prix of June. He ended up for Lawson whose fifth was the best result of his Grand Prix career, after a Stabrieken to defend the place for the former teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Tsunoda seemed to overcut Lawson with his late stop for mediums in round 38, but the kiwi, his tires to temperature, made him decisively in turn 3.
The Japanese driver was clearly faster, but was unable to find the defenses of the Racing Bulls director and was forced to settle for the sixth, the best finish of his season, although his eight points were not enough to prevent Red Bull Racing from being eliminated from the constructors.
Norris finished seventh, where he started, after a slog to restore places he lost early in the race. The Englishman lost a place to Isack Hadjar at the start and was attacked by Charles Leclerc at the Safety Car with Restart to walk early in the race, and although he and Leclerc passed Hadjar in short order, the McLaren could not make an impression on the Ferrari, despite sitting in the Ferrari, despite the sitting in.
Eventually McLaren Ferrari lets the strategy done on behalf of her. Leclerc first stopped, in round 19, for fresh hard tires, but wasted the new rubber advantage bottled behind a defensive Lawson.
Norris did not go to round 37 and remarkably had the chance to bridge Leclerc, but a slow right tire tire change brought him to the Ferrari again. However, the problem was temporary, and with 18-lap-new rubber he was able to shoot along Leclerc on round 41 to resume seventh place.
But with Tsunoda for him who benefited from Lawson’s Drs Vooruit, that was as far as Norris got, and only scored six points on a rare weekend that Piastri could score. His meager score also ensured that McLaren could not seal the constructors’ championship, with the struggle to continue to the next race in Singapore.
Lewis Hamilton was the eighth for Ferrari teammate Leclerc in a long and losing battle with Norris after both drivers had a strong start, while Hadjar completed the top 10 for racing bulls.
Gabriel Bortoelto, Oliver Bearman, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll finished on the main round, while Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto ended a round in 18th and 19th.
Result
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