Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was right where he belonged, standing on top of the podium once again at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Verstappen delivered maximum effort — qualifying on pole position, setting the fastest lap and leading every lap en route to a Grand Slam victory Sunday.
It’s the fourth win of the season and second straight for Verstappen following an equally impressive performance two weeks ago in Monza.
Let’s also not forget the Dutch driver’s runner-up result right before that on home pavement in Zandvoort.
The four-time reigning world champion saved himself before his “drive for five” kept slipping away into the void.
Verstappen was 97 points back of championship leader Oscar Piastri following last month’s Hungarian GP. Three races later, that deficit is now down to 69 points — still quite significant, but with seven races and three sprints to go, you can’t rule anything out.
Just like you can’t rule out things like Lando Norris experiencing a chassis issue in Zandvoort or Piastri crashing in qualifying and the race here in Baku.
From Verstappen’s perspective, it’s one thing when those opportunities present themselves; it’s another to capitalize on them.
After Piastri went into the wall late in qualifying, and with Williams driver Carlos Sainz sitting in provisional pole position, Verstappen stepped right up, marched and pushed into P1 on his final attempt around the track.
Sainz had to settle for starting second, right beside his former teammate from their Toro Rosso days a decade ago. It appeared Sainz had a tire advantage, starting on the mediums; however, Verstappen managed to cover him off at the start, even on hard tires, and pulled away.
Mercedes driver George Russell also began on the hard set and was able to extend his opening stint to overcut Sainz, who had to pit sooner, for second place.
Verstappen was 32 seconds clear of Russell when he finally made his stop on Lap 41, and with only 10 laps remaining, nothing could stop him now.
Russell crossed the line a distant 14.609 seconds after Verstappen, whose wish for another title is real and alive as he needs it to be.
Now doesn’t it make you feel better?
Russell picked up his seventh podium of the season, even though he was under the weather for most of the weekend.
The British driver qualified fifth and showed, like Verstappen did, that starting on the hard tire was the right choice.
Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli also finished fourth to lift Mercedes over Ferrari for second place in the constructors’ championship.
Maybe one of the paddock cats helped lift Russell’s spirits.
And no, this isn’t the one that went viral. That one’s named Furrari. Try to keep up with the lore, please.
Smooth operator
Sainz called it the “best podium of my career” on the team radio as he earned his best result since joining Williams this season.
It hasn’t been an easy move for Sainz, who had four wins during his four-year stint with Ferrari. The Spanish driver entered the weekend 18th in the championship with only 16 points. By comparison, teammate Alex Albon has 70 points.
Sainz nearly doubled his tally, picking up 15 points for finishing third, and has vaulted up to 12th place, one point back of Canadian driver Lance Stroll of Aston Martin.
A few fun facts: It was the first podium for the Williams team since the 2021 Belgian GP when Russell finished second in a rain-shortened race. And by that, we mean the race ended after three laps, two of which were behind a safety car.
The last time a Williams driver finished on the podium in a full race was Stroll in Baku, coincidentally, at the 2017 Azerbaijan GP.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, who replaced Sainz at Ferrari, has yet to score a podium in a race with his new team. Who would have thought Nico Hulkenberg, Isack Hadjar and Sainz would all have GP podiums this season before Hamilton?
Somewhat damaged
Piastri has been the model of consistency, but this weekend was a broken, downward spiral.
The Australian driver started ninth due to his crash in qualifying, and things got worse as he jumped the start before overcorrecting and fell to almost the back of the pack. He didn’t even manage to complete a single lap as he locked up heading into Turn 5 and slammed into the barrier.
Piastri could only watch from his trackside seat, where he was stuck for the remainder of the race, as Verstappen danced to victory.
Oh, and he received a five-second time penalty for his false start that could carry over into the next race.
Fortunately for Piastri, teammate and championship rival Norris squandered the chance to gain ground in the standings.
Norris had a brush with the wall during his final qualifying attempt and couldn’t do better than seventh on the starting grid. The British driver got overtaken by Charles Leclerc at the start and was engaged in another Ferrari-McLaren battle for most of the race.
It looked like Norris would be able to overcut Leclerc with a later pit stop; however, an issue with his front right tire kept him in his box for a couple more costly seconds. That was enough as Norris exited behind Leclerc, who was also held up by Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson. Team orders couldn’t bail out Norris this time.
Norris managed to overtake Leclerc on Lap 41, but time ran out before he could gain further ground. He finished right where he started in seventh place.
Although Norris cut the gap to Piastri in the standings from 31 points to 25, it could have been down to six if he had won the race.
McLaren also whiffed on its first opportunity to clinch the constructors’ championship, needing to outscore Ferrari by nine points. With Hamilton finishing eighth and Leclerc in ninth, that didn’t come to be this time. It’s almost inevitable that it’ll happen next time out in Singapore in two weeks, though.
The hand that feeds
More team orders drama this week as Hamilton was asked to swap positions with Leclerc on the final lap. Even though Hamilton slowed down as he approached the finish line, the seven-time world champion crossed right before Leclerc.
Hamilton has had headaches since joining Ferrari; this shouldn’t be one of them.
The team should have instructed Hamilton to slow down sooner. Even then, Hamilton didn’t make excuses and tell a terrible lie. He owned up to his mistake, saying to the media after the race that he misjudged it and it won’t happen again. For what it’s worth, Leclerc wasn’t fazed either, given that it’s only eighth and ninth place.
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