The streets of Baku once again delivered drama in abundance across Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, with Max Verstappen taking a commanding win and New Zealand’s Liam Lawson starring with a career-best fifth-place finish.
Saturday’s qualifying session went into the record books as the most interrupted in Formula 1 history, with six red flags in a single session.
Incidents for Alex Albon, Nico Hülkenberg, Charles Leclerc, Oliver Bearman and Oscar Piastri kept race control busy as drivers battled narrow walls, changing conditions and unforgiving margins.
Through it all, Max Verstappen delivered when it mattered most, setting a 1:41.117s to secure pole. Carlos Sainz impressed for Williams to line up alongside him on the front row, while Liam Lawson produced a stunning lap to secure third – his best-ever F1 grid position.
The Kiwi wasn’t the only standout, as Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli put his car fourth and George Russell slotted into fifth.
Yuki Tsunoda followed in sixth, ahead of Lando Norris in the McLaren, while Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar completed the fourth row in eighth. Behind them, both Piastri and Leclerc qualified 9th and 10th on the grid, not setting any times in the disrupted Q3 session.
The race got underway cleanly for most, though Oscar Piastri jumped the lights, stalled, and then dropped to the back of the field. As he tried to recover, the championship leader crashed into the Turn 5 wall on Lap 1, bringing out the Safety Car and retiring on the spot.
The incident was significant for the championship, with Piastri’s lead over Norris shrinking.
Adding to the drama, Fernando Alonso was also handed a five-second penalty for a false start, having reacted to Piastri’s jump.
Up front, Verstappen – starting on hard tyres – muscled past Sainz into Turn 1 to seize control. Lawson, on mediums, held firm in third, fending off Antonelli.
Racing resumed on Lap 5 with Verstappen leading Sainz, Lawson, Antonelli, Russell, Tsunoda, Hadjar, Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton in the top ten.
At Turn 16, Hadjar made a mistake and slipped to ninth, while Russell and Antonelli’s scrap saw Russell forced to take evasive action at Turn 1, temporarily losing ground to Tsunoda. The Mercedes pair continued to fight, with Russell later regaining the position.
By Lap 10, Verstappen had opened a 2.5-second gap to Sainz, with Lawson holding firm in third. Under constant DRS pressure from Antonelli, Lawson absorbed the heat and refused to yield, defending cleanly while staying within his rhythm.
As Verstappen extended his lead beyond four seconds by Lap 16, Mercedes began weighing team orders. Russell requested to swap places with Antonelli, feeling he had a stronger pace, but the team chose instead to pit Antonelli on Lap 19.
That promoted Russell up into direct pursuit of Lawson.
Elsewhere, Albon tangled with Franco Colapinto at Turn 5, spinning the Argentinian around. Both carried on, but Albon was handed a 10-second penalty.
The pit window opened shortly after. Leclerc stopped on Lap 20, with Lawson following a lap later. A rapid 2.3-second stop saw him rejoin just ahead of Antonelli, but with cold tyres, the Kiwi had to weave frantically to get his tyres up to temperature.
On Lap 22, Antonelli pounced down the main straight to reclaim position.
Sainz boxed on Lap 28, rejoining sixth, while Hadjar stopped two laps later. Verstappen stayed out longer, stretching his lead to nearly 14 seconds before finally stopping on Lap 41.
The overcut worked perfectly: he rejoined still in the lead, with Russell and Sainz behind.
As the strategies converged, the final 10 laps became a defensive masterclass from Lawson. Having worked his way back up to fifth, he faced unrelenting pressure from Tsunoda and Norris, with Leclerc and Hamilton lurking just behind.
Tsunoda briefly had the upper hand exiting the pits, but Lawson decisively re-passed into Turn 2, using confident braking to hold his ground. That move allowed Tsunoda to back Leclerc up, relieving Lawson from immediate danger.
From there, the Kiwi didn’t put a wheel wrong, fending off Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton until the chequered flag.
Verstappen controlled proceedings throughout to take another dominant victory, his margin over Russell standing at 12.4 seconds at the flag.
Russell celebrated his best finish since winning in Canada, while Sainz completed the podium – his first podium with Williams, which also earned him Driver of the Day honours.
Antonelli was a strong fourth, while Lawson’s fifth marked his best-ever F1 result, capping off a breakthrough weekend.
Racing Bulls celebrated a double-points finish with Hadjar in tenth, underlining their progress.
Top 10 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025
For the championship, Norris’s seventh place brought him six points and trimmed Piastri’s advantage to 25 with seven races to go.
Formula 1 now heads to Singapore, where the night race around Marina Bay will host round 18 of the season on October 6 (NZST).
Header Image: Formula 1 via X
