Image courtesy of The Associated Press
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with surprising podiums from Mercedes’ George Russell and Williams driver Carlos Sainz. Lando Norris closed the gap to title rival Oscar Piastri after the Drivers’ Championship leader crashed out on the opening lap.
Formula 2
In the Formula 2 Sprint Race, Dino Beganovic earned his first victory in FIA Formula 2 from second on the grid. Teammate Luke Browning finished six seconds behind to secure a Hitech TGR 1-2, while Alexander Dunne finished third for Rodin Motorsport having started seventh.
The Feature Race saw Jak Crawford hold off the imposing Joshua Duerksen across the line to take a third Feature Race victory of the season. This puts the DAMS Lucas Oil driver up to second in the Drivers’ Championship Standings.
Crawford lost the lead at the start, but following a later Safety Car restart, the American managed to regain the lead before going on to win the race. Leonardo Fornaroli finished third on the road, but a 10-second time penalty dropped him to fifth, promoting Dino Beganovic onto the podium in third.
Formula 1
After one of the most chaotic Qualifying sessions in F1 history, Verstappen started on pole for the sixth time this season while a mixed-up grid meant title rivals Norris and Piastri were back in seventh and ninth.
Verstappen had no competition in the race, leading all 51 laps and winning by over 14 seconds from Mercedes’ George Russell and Carlos Sainz, who claimed his first podium for Williams after narrowly missing pole.
Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli just missed out on the podium after a strong run, finishing ahead of a fierce fight for fifth led by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who scored a career-best result. Yuki Tsunoda finished sixth after late pressure from Norris, taking his best result for Red Bull. Ultimately, Norris ended up seventh, unable to overtake Tsunoda and after briefly slipping to ninth. His McLaren teammate, Piastri, suffered a disastrous opening lap starting from P9, jumping the lights before crashing out and retiring prematurely at Turn 5.
Lewis Hamilton led his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc on a difficult day for the team after both started down the order, as the second Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar completed the top 10.
The next round of Formula 1 continues in Singapore from 03–05 October, where F1 Academy will join the support bill for their penultimate round.
