Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen started from pole and dominated the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the way to his fourth win of 2025 and 67th of his career, streaking away from all the drama behind and never being challenged in the 51-lap race on the streets of Baku.
The four-time world champion controlled the race from the front to keep his slim hopes alive for a fifth world championship, as he gained valuable ground on the pair of McLaren drivers ahead in the points.
“For us to win again here is fantastic – in the race the car was working really well,” said Verstappen, who also won the street race in 2022. “We had clean air all the time and could look after the tires, so it was pretty straightforward. Certainly the last few races have been amazing for us.”
In addition to the pole and leading every lap to the checkered flag, Verstappen also put up the fastest lap of the race to record his sixth career Formula One grand slam, moving him ahead of Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari and into a tie for second with Lewis Hamilton, now with Ferrari. Jim Clark recorded the most F1 grand slams at eight.
While Verstappen’s victory closed the gap to the two drivers ahead, it still leaves him 69 points behind Oscar Piastri and 44 behind second-place Lando Norris with seven races to go, which keeps title No. 5 this year as a long shot at best.
The Red Bull driver led a jumbled field home after several surprises in qualifying saw Williams driver Carlos Sainz start second and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson third. While neither could keep their season-best starting places in the race – Sainz dropped to third and Lawson finished fifth – both put up their best finishes of the season, with the Racing Bull driver also scoring his first career top-five in F1. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli split the pair in fourth.
Meanwhile, Mercedes driver George Russell worked hard to try to challenge the Red Bull driver, gaining three places from the start to reach second, but could not get close enough to be a threat. He crossed the finish line 14.609 seconds behind Verstappen.
“Really happy to be back on the podium,” said Russell, who suffered from a sore throat and fever for most of the weekend. “It’s been a rough weekend for me, personally, but the car was great and [Antonelli] came in P4 as well so happy with that. I was pretty glad when I saw the checkered flag, but fortunately I felt better today than I did Friday and Saturday. I’m looking forward to a bit of rest.”
Russell’s podium, combined with Antonelli’s fourth, helped Mercedes move into second in the constructors’ standings, with the Silver Arrows now on 290 points, but still 333 behind runaway leaders McLaren, with 623 points. Ferrari dropped to third, with 286.
Although he slipped one spot from his starting position, Sainz beamed after taking his first podium of 2025 and Williams’ first top-three finish since Lance Stroll took third in the 2017 race in Baku, not counting Russell’s second in the one-lap 2021 Belgian Grand Prix which never went green.
“Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am – this feels it’s even better than my first ever podium,” said Sainz, who told the team on the radio that it was the highlight of his career. “We’ve been fighting hard all year and finally today we just proved that when we have the speed – we’ve had it all year – and when things come together, amazing things can happen. We are on the rise and going in the right direction.”
On the other hand, championship leader Oscar Piastri started ninth and things went south immediately. He jumped the start, then tried to stop, which saw him bog down when the lights went out, get away slowly, and end up last after the first corner. Things went from bad to worse, with the McLaren driver locking up and crashing out of the race five corners later.
“Certainly not my finest moment,” said Piastri, after the race. “I just anticipated the start too much and it was a silly, simple error with that, and then, the crash – I just didn’t anticipate the dirty air in the way I should have. I clearly went into the corner way too hot and that was that. The grip level was low but I should know that, so I’m certainly not blaming it on anything other than myself.”
Luckily for Piastri, Norris could not capitalize on his main rival’s error. He stayed mired in the mid-field for most of the race before a slow tire stop ended any hopes of making ground, and he crossed the line exactly where he started, in seventh, after a sloppy qualifying. In the end, he gained just six points on his teammate and narrowed the gap slightly to 25 points, 324-299, but still a full race win behind.
“I couldn’t do anything more today – it was just impossible to overtake.” said Norris. “Things could have been a little bit better, but was there anything I could have changed? Probably not.”
As for the Canadian team, neither Aston Martin driver could manage a top-10 finish, with Fernando
Alonso crossing the line 15th and Canadian Lance Stroll ending the day 17th.
“We stayed out for a longer stint on the Mediums hoping to take advantage of a Safety Car that never came, which limited our opportunities and what we could do,” said Stroll.
