Verstappen dominates Baku as Piastri crashes out

Starting from pole, Verstappen was never headed, finishing 14.6s clear of George Russell to secure his 67th career victory and keep alive his faint hopes of a fifth consecutive drivers’ title.

In a race far less chaotic than Saturday’s qualifying, only one safety car interrupted proceedings and the forecast rain failed to appear, allowing Verstappen to deliver a trademark display of control while the battles raged behind, leading every lap to also secure his sixth career grand slam.

The Dutchman said he was delighted with the win, which cut his championship deficit to 69 points behind Piastri and 44 behind second-placed Lando Norris.

“They’re all a bit different, but this weekend has been incredible for us,” he said.

“It was pretty straightforward. It wasn’t easy.

“It was very windy out there, but very happy with this performance.”

Russell delivered a composed drive, climbing from fifth on the grid with a blend of pace and strategy to secure his first podium since Hungary.

He added that he was happy to have finished on the podium, particularly given he had overcome illness across the weekend.

“I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag, to be honest,” he said. “I felt much better today than I did on Friday and Saturday.”

“I’m really happy to be back on the podium. The car was great; Kimi came in P4 too, so happy with that.”

Starting from the front row, Carlos Sainz secured his first podium for Williams, the team’s first top-three finish since George Russell at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix.

Sainz said he was thrilled with third place, calling it the best podium of his Formula 1 career.

“Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am and how good this feels,” he said. “It’s better than my first podium.

“We just proved that when we have the speed — we’ve had it all year — that when everything comes together.

“Now I understand why it all happened, because the first podium needed to come like this.

“This tastes much better than anything else I was expecting.”

And while the top three drove strong races to taste the champagne, the biggest talking point came on the opening lap, when championship leader Piastri’s afternoon ended before it had even properly begun.

 

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Piastri jumped the start, creeping forward before stopping, a miscue that left the Australian swamped by the field and shuffled to the back.

As he tried to recover, he locked up under braking into Turn 5 while attempting to pass the Haas of Esteban Ocon, sliding into the barrier and ending his race.

It was his first retirement since the 2023 United States Grand Prix, snapping a 44-race finishing streak and a 34-race points streak.

Piastri was handed a five-second penalty for the jump start, but having retired before serving it, he now faces a nervous wait to see whether it will be converted into a grid drop for the next round in Singapore.

The 24-year-old cut a forlorn figure during the race, sitting at a marshal’s post and appearing to watch the action on a phone rather than returning to the pits immediately.

The retirement of his closest championship rival opened a major opportunity for Norris to close the 31-point gap Piastri held heading into the round, but the Briton was only able to claw back six, finishing seventh.

Starting from seventh, Norris found himself stuck between the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton for much of the opening stint, only breaking free of Leclerc once the Monegasque pitted on lap 19.

As Leclerc was then held up behind Liam Lawson during the middle phase, Norris stretched his medium tyres as long as possible before pitting on lap 38 in an attempt to undercut the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda.

But for the second race in succession, a slow stop proved costly. A problem with the front-right tyre dropped Norris behind both Tsunoda and Leclerc.

He was able to re-pass Leclerc three laps later but couldn’t find a way past Tsunoda, leaving him sixth. With the result, Norris now trails Piastri by the equivalent of a full race win — 25 points — heading into Singapore.

And while Norris trimmed Piastri’s championship lead slightly, the result wasn’t enough for McLaren to seal the constructors’ title, meaning the Woking squad will have to wait until Singapore for another shot.

Tsunoda’s sixth place was his best finish since joining Red Bull, though he still trailed the man he replaced. Lawson converted his third-place grid slot into a career-best fifth, the Kiwi jumped only by George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in the pit-stop phase, with Antonelli finishing fourth.

The Ferrari pair of Hamilton and Leclerc ended up eighth and ninth, with the team instructing Hamilton past in the closing laps in a bid to chase Norris — a move that ultimately came to nothing.

Isack Hadjar made it a double-points finish for Racing Bulls, bringing home tenth.

Cars from 11th to 19th spent most of the afternoon locked in a DRS train, initially led by Alpine rookie Franco Colapinto, who produced arguably his strongest showing of the season.

His race, however, was undone on lap 18 by a clumsy move from Alex Albon, the Williams clipping Colapinto at Turn 5 and spinning him into the wall while damaging his own front wing. The contact earned the Thai driver both a pit stop for repairs and a 10-second penalty.

Fernando Alonso also fell foul of the stewards, the Spaniard handed a five-second penalty for jumping the start. He admitted over team radio that he had reacted to Piastri’s false launch.

With all the drama of Baku behind them and the European leg of the season now over, drivers will reset for the final seven flyaway rounds, beginning with Singapore in two weeks’ time.

This article first appeared on Speedcafe.com, a sister site to MotorRacing.com.

The post Verstappen dominates Baku as Piastri crashes out appeared first on MotorRacing.com.