Max Verstappen turned his pole position into victory for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of George Russell and Carlos Sainz. Continuing Red Bull’s pace dominance from Monza, Max led the entire race and never looked back as McLaren floundered.
A win for Red Bull and Max who have two wins on the trot and are reclaiming their challenge for at least second in the driver’s championship. Have the new upgrades in Monza delivered a much more competitive car for the balance of the season or is it just the low downforce tracks? Time will tell.
A big win for Williams and Carlos Sainz with a P3 podium result. Carlos has had a ragged year but the team and the Spaniard kept their heads down and converted a great qualifying effort into a podium finish. Huge work from all the men and women at Williams!
A win for George Russell who was ill all weekend long and his P2 finish showed perseverance and a return to form for Mercedes with his teammate, Kimi Antonelli in P4. George had a terrific race but so did Kimi and he needed a good reset after some relatively ragged race weekends. All good for Mercedes who are battling Ferrari in the constructor’s championship for P2.
A big win for Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson who, like Carlos, had a wonderful qualifying and managed to keep his car at the sharp end of the grid with much faster cars behind him. Liam finished in P5 with a great points haul for the team as his teammate was in P10. Liam needed a boost of confidence but it was his defensive driving that really impressed me all day long.
A win for Yuki Tsunoda who really needed a points result and finishing in P6 was a good run. Unfortunately for Yuki, I think his resurgent performance will be a day late and dollar short to protect his seat next year.
A fail for McLaren with Oscar hitting the wall in qualifying and again in the race on the first lap. A jumped start dropped him to the back and he hit the wall ending his race. A rare mistake-riddled weekend from the normally calm Aussie. Equally, Lando Norris needed to capitalize on Oscar’s misfortune but couldn’t in qualifying and didn’t in the race finishing in P7. Yet another slow stop from the team left Lando behind Lawson and Tsunoda where he was trapped in a DRS train. A brutal weekend for the team and real missed opportunity for Lando.
A fail for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc in the wall during qualifying and then unable to make his way forward during the race. Lewis had a tough qualifying but better race however, both were down in P8 and P9 and that’s sad given they seem to have more pace than that on Friday. Also, the swap back of position to Charles at the line was ham fisted, no pun intended.
A fail for Alex Albon who had an ill-advised passing attempt garnering a penalty and he finished down in P13.
Not sure why Alpine struggled so much this weekend or Aston Martin but Fernando Alonso’s jump start didn’t help matters.
Gabriel Bortoleto’s performance in P11 makes you wonder how well this young might do in a quick car. I am sure he is hoping Audi deliver one next year.
MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT“On this track, a one-stop has always been an almost mandatory strategy and today was no exception, even though we brought a softer range of compounds than last year. Additionally, the fact it was cooler than usual helped the teams and drivers manage thermal degradation, particularly on the rear axle. “As a result, it was a very straightforward race in terms of tyre behaviour. The Medium and Hard were very close in terms of performance and also in terms of degradation which was practically non-existent on both compounds. The C4 saw the most use (598 laps, 61.84%) and the Soft never put in an appearance. After last night’s rain, the track surface reset itself a bit and therefore actually evolved significantly over the course of the race. Ahead of us we now have another 2026 tyre development test session. On Thursday 25th and Friday 26th September, Ferrari and Haas will support us for one day each at the Mugello circuit, working on a programme focussed on defining the hardest compounds in the range.” |
Azerbaijan GP Results:
|
POS. |
NO. |
DRIVER |
TEAM |
LAPS |
TIME / RETIRED |
PTS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
1 |
Max Verstappen |
Red Bull Racing |
51 |
1:33:26.408 |
25 |
|
2 |
63 |
George Russell |
Mercedes |
51 |
+14.609s |
18 |
|
3 |
55 |
Carlos Sainz |
Williams |
51 |
+19.199s |
15 |
|
4 |
12 |
Kimi Antonelli |
Mercedes |
51 |
+21.760s |
12 |
|
5 |
30 |
Liam Lawson |
Racing Bulls |
51 |
+33.290s |
10 |
|
6 |
22 |
Yuki Tsunoda |
Red Bull Racing |
51 |
+33.808s |
8 |
|
7 |
4 |
Lando Norris |
McLaren |
51 |
+34.227s |
6 |
|
8 |
44 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Ferrari |
51 |
+36.310s |
4 |
|
9 |
16 |
Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari |
51 |
+36.774s |
2 |
|
10 |
6 |
Isack Hadjar |
Racing Bulls |
51 |
+38.982s |
1 |
|
11 |
5 |
Gabriel Bortoleto |
Kick Sauber |
51 |
+67.606s |
0 |
|
12 |
87 |
Oliver Bearman |
Haas |
51 |
+68.262s |
0 |
|
13 |
23 |
Alexander Albon |
Williams |
51 |
+72.870s |
0 |
|
14 |
31 |
Esteban Ocon |
Haas |
51 |
+77.580s |
0 |
|
15 |
14 |
Fernando Alonso |
Aston Martin |
51 |
+78.707s |
0 |
|
16 |
27 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Kick Sauber |
51 |
+80.237s |
0 |
|
17 |
18 |
Lance Stroll |
Aston Martin |
51 |
+96.392s |
0 |
|
18 |
10 |
Pierre Gasly |
Alpine |
50 |
+1 lap |
0 |
|
19 |
43 |
Franco Colapinto |
Alpine |
50 |
+1 lap |
0 |
|
NC |
81 |
Oscar Piastri |
McLaren |
0 |
DNF |
0 |
|
Note – Piastri received a five-second time penalty for a false start. Albon received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. |
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Is it weird that RB could find like 2 sec a lap 3/4 the way through a season? Tsunoda from last to 6th? Maybe they just had a eureka moment but if i were a competitor i’d sfart playing the red bull game and filing scrutineering accusations. Thats a pretty un heard of development