2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell
Sep 21
3 min read

Updated: Sep 22

Verstappen Wins in Baku as Piastri Crashes Out

It was another masterclass drive from Max Verstappen as he led from lights to flag to bag a massive 25 points back over Oscar Piastri (who shockingly crashed on the opening lap)! George Russell recovered well to take P2, whilst a brilliant drive from Carlos Sainz was enough for the Spaniard to take his first Podium in Williams blue!

The Biggest Talking Points

Max Verstappen got off the line well to remain ahead of Carlos Sainz into Turn 1, but the same couldn’t be said about Oscar Piastri who dropped to the back following a jump start (that then led to an anti-stall)! However, things would only get worse for Piastri as he slammed into the wall at Turn 5 to bring out the Safety Car! Such a rare mistake by the Championship leader! Anyway, when the Race got back underway, Andrea Kimi Antonelli nearly put teammate George Russell into the wall at Turn 1, and this in turn meant Russell lost a place to Yuki Tsunoda! After many attempts, George was finally able to clear Yuki as he started to hunt down his teammate (who was stuck behind Liam Lawson)! Behind that, Franco Colapinto, who was running a decent Race up to this point, got punted around by Alex Albon (the Thai driver received a 10-second time penalty) whilst Fernando Alonso was also given a 5-second time penalty for jumping the start!

As some drivers made the decision to try for the undercut, it worked out well for Kimi Antonelli as he was able to overtake Liam Lawson (thanks to having warmer tyres) whilst Carlos Sainz ended his good first stint by retaining 2nd place (ahead of Antonelli)! Lando Norris, who really needed to take advantage of his teammates’ DNF, wasn’t exactly making any progress behind Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull, and it only got worse for Norris as his undercut attempt was ruined by (another) slow pit stop! Lando was able to at least overtake Charles Leclerc, but 7th was all the Brit could manage as he couldn’t find a way through either Tsunoda or Lawson (both held their own well)! However, the overcut did prove to work in favour of George Russell as the Mercedes driver was able to jump ahead of Sainz for P2, and it’s also worth mentioning that Leclerc let Hamilton through for P8, but Lewis failed to do the same at the end!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out four 10’s for the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen! Max was the class of the field once again, running away with things to take his 4th victory of the season, and surely, surely, he can’t come back into the Championship fight, can he?! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is George Russell, and I feel that this is fully deserved; George had a lot of pace today, and he did a great job to overcut his way into second place! The third driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Carlos Sainz, and wow, it’s been a tough year, but the Smooth Operator is finally back on a Formula 1 Podium! Well done Carlos; what a special weekend from him! And the final driver I’ve given a 10 to is Liam Lawson, and that’s simply because I thought Liam soaked up pressure brilliantly today; I’m very impressed! Andrea Kimi Antonelli also deserves a mention as he had his best drive since Canada, whilst congrats to Yuki Tsunoda on his best result as a Red Bull driver!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

I’ve only given out one 1 for today’s Race, and that is unfortunately for Oscar Piastri! I have no idea what’s been going on with Oscar Piastri this weekend; he’s been a completely different driver, and this was a pretty shocking error to make! The only positive for Piastri is that his teammate only gained 6 points on him, so he still leads the Championship by 25 points! Elsewhere, Aston Martin and Alpine were awful; they need the season to end!