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Max Verstappen celebrates with the Red Bull Racing team after winning the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
(Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool)

F1 Review: Max Verstappen Unstoppable in Baku as McLaren Drivers Falter

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Polesitter Max Verstappen dominated from start to finish and easily won the Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday (Sept. 21). Verstappen’s accomplishment was co-headlined by Oscar Piastri’s first-lap crash and DNF, which came after he jumped the start and fell to last place. Piastri’s misfortune opened the door for McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who managed to only gingerly tiptoe through it with a seventh-place finish and took only six points off of Piastri’s lead in the drivers standings.

“This weekend has been incredible for us,” Verstappen said. “For us to win here again is just fantastic.

“The car was working really well on both of the compounds. We had clean air all the time, so you could then look after your tires. It was pretty straightforward. I’m incredibly happy with this performance.”

Mercedes’ George Russell finished third, and Williams Racings’ Carlos Sainz, who qualified second, finished third for his first ever podium with his new team. 

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was fourth, scoring points for the second consecutive race, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson taking fifth for his best finish of the year, after a season-best qualifying effort of third.

Yuki Tsunoda was sixth to post his best ever result for Red Bull, with Norris in seventh. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished eighth and ninth, respectively, right where you’d expect them after looking like race win contenders in practice. Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar overcame a hydraulic issue, which was frantically remedied by his team on the grid, and finished 10th. 

Piastri avoided disaster and lost only six points off his lead in the drivers’ standings. He leads Norris by 25 points, 324 to 299. Verstappen is in third and closing, and lurking, and making McLaren nervous, with 255 points.

With a chance to clinch the constructors championship, McLaren did not, and lead Mercedes by 333 points, 623 to 290. Ferrari entered Baku in third, but are now four points behind Mercedes.

Max Verstappen Wins a Lights-to-Flag Victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

The Race

Verstappen easily held off Sainz after lights out and the sprint down to turn 1, but Piastri had a disastrous start and was dead last. The Australian jumped the start, and was passed by everyone behind him as he tried to recover. It got even worse when Piastri drove his McLaren straight into the barrier at turn 5. The door was wide open for Norris to close the gap in the championship battle.

Piastri’s accident brought out the safety car for five laps while his car was removed and the barrier was repaired.   

Racing resumed on lap 5, and Verstappen got the jump on Sainz, while Norris lost another spot to Leclerc. Norris, needing as many points as possible, would need to race with the right mix of aggression and discretion. Any result outside of the points would be unacceptable, and any result outside of the top five would be hugely disappointing.

It was smooth sailing up ahead for Verstappen, who was comfortably out of Sainz’s DRS range by lap 7. At lap 10, the order was Verstappen, Sainz, Lawson, Antonelli, Russell, Tsunoda, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton and Hadjar.

And it wouldn’t be an F1 race without a weather forecast predicting rain “in the next 20 minutes or so.” On an already cool and windy day in Baku, any amount of rain would likely throw the race into chaos.

Pit stops would likely decide the Norris-Leclerc battle. And if history tells us anything, it’s that any decision Ferrari makes is probably the wrong one. 

Leclerc pitted on lap 21 for hard tires, and McLaren decided to extend Norris’ stint on his medium tires to counter the Ferrari strategy. 

With pit stops underway, the top five of Verstappen, Russell, Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton had yet to pit, and those stops would likely decide who would join Verstappen on the Baku podium. Whenever he pitted, Norris would have a significant tire advantage over Leclerc, who he would be chasing for position.

Norris pitted on lap 38, and a slow stop ruined his plans as he came out in eighth, behind both Lawson and Leclerc. An average stop would have had Norris looking at a possible fourth-place result. Now, he would have to work for every position. An eighth-place finish for Norris would be considered a huge win for Piastri. 

Norris cleared Leclerc for seventh on lap 41, and set his sights on Tsunoda and Lawson, with a fifth certainly attainable for the McLaren driver.

A few raindrops were reported with eight laps left, but nothing significant enough to create any havoc. Once again, in-race rain forecasts for an F1 race were wrong. 

Less than two seconds separated the 5-6-7-8 train of Lawson, Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton, with DRS helping while also hurting the cars in pursuit. Norris was struggling to get by Tsunoda and was mired in seventh. Lawson didn’t realize it, but he was doing Piastri a huge favor. Norris also had to worry about losing seventh to Hamilton, who was right on Norris’ tail.

Verstappen took the checkered flag with his second straight win, 14 seconds ahead of Russell, as Sainz snatched his first podium for Williams.

The Good

Carlos Sainz put his Williams alongside Max Verstappen on Baku’s front row, and his qualifying success was made all the more satisfying with the Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Hamilton out of his sight in 10th and 12th, respectively. Sainz didn’t waste that Q2 effort, and finished third, earning his first podium for Williams, while Leclerc and Hamilton were ninth and 10th, respectively and predictably.

It had to be an extremely satisfying result for Sainz, who was dumped by Ferrari at the end of 2024 to make room for Lewis Hamilton. Sainz’s one podium finish with Williams is exactly one more than Hamilton has with Ferrari. Sainz had three wins for Ferrari in 2024, so notwithstanding Hamilton’s performance so far this year, the change looks like a bad decision on Ferrari’s part. And given Hamilton’s performance so far this year, the move to send Sainz packing looks like an even worse decision.

The Bad

Piastri may have had the worst first lap of his F1 career. First, he jumped the start. Then, while fighting to keep his car from stalling, dropped to last place. Once he got moving and likely said to himself “It can’t get any worse than this,” Piastri did indeed let it get worse, and placed the nose of his McLaren firmly in the turn 5 wall. 

Then, while a dejected Piastri watched the race from behind the fence, he once again asked himself, “Can it get any worse than this?” The answer came from an unlikely source, McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who said to Piastri, “No, it won’t get any worse, because I don’t know how to seize a huge opportunity, so I’m just going to finish seventh and spare almost all of your championship lead. You’re welcome.”

McLaren team principal Zak Brown, in his own mind, probably felt like he outsmarted everyone, and told himself Piastri’s horrible day was just a clever ploy for McLaren not to have to make any team orders. You know what, Zak? It worked.

Ferrari has a long-standing habit of “Ferrari-ing,” which is defined as unique and often stupid ways to fail. “Ferrari-ing,” or at least the 2025 version of it, is topping the charts in free practice sessions, only for that pace to mysteriously disappear in qualifying. Ferrari has done that in consecutive weeks.

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The “Paddock Cat” Phenomenon

A stray kitten, nicknamed “Paddock Cat,” charmed the Baku circuit when the feline appeared on Thursday. After being expelled from the paddock twice, said kitty kept returning to the circuit. If Flavio Briatore was a cat, he would be this one, because it somehow kept coming back after being told to leave, repeatedly.

I doubt anyone can explain the cat’s fascination with the Baku circuit. I’m guessing it had something to do with the abundance of kitty litter in several of the circuit’s run-off areas.  Given the chance, I’m sure “Paddock Cat” would have made several visits to those areas. And does that mean the person in charge of maintaining and cleaning those areas would need an F1 “scooper license?”

The Driver

Verstappen cruised to his second straight unchallenged victory, after winning at Monza on September 7th in similar fashion. 

Verstappen spent time between the two F1 wins endurance racing at the Nordschleife in Germany, earning his license to later race in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring next year. 

Norris’ off week saw it announced that he would appear in the October edition of British Vogue magazine. I totally understand Norris’ motivation, because you want to look your best and turn heads when you accept the Drivers’ Championship runner-up trophy at the F1 awards banquet. Maybe Norris’ Vogue shoot will allow him to see that F1 doesn’t hold the key to happiness, and there are other aspects of life that should be addressed. Like, is it “glamor” or “glamour?” 

I’m not sure what Piastri did on his week off. He certainly didn’t work on his concentration, or bother reading “How Not to Blow An F1 Championship Lead For Dummies,” or speak to a sports psychologist.

Anyway, Verstappen has served notice to Piastri, Norris and McLaren as a whole, that if they can’t close the deal, he’ll make them pay for it. Sure, Verstappen is still 69 points behind Piastri in the standings, so it will take a combination of Verstappen wins, and small, medium, or large McLaren failures, for the Dutchman to mount a challenge. But that’s exactly what’s happened in the last two races; who’s to say it won’t continue in the same manner?

Verstappen is winning on the track, and winning even more in the mind games that his wins play on McLaren. If Red Bull wants to really get under the skin of McLaren, they should pipe in the Dutch national anthem within earshot of McLaren facilities and functions whenever possible.  

The Results (Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Baku City Circuit)

POS.NO.DRIVERTEAMLAPSTIME / RETIREDPTS.
11Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing511:33:26.40825
263George RussellMercedes51+14.609s18
355Carlos SainzWilliams51+19.199s15
412Kimi AntonelliMercedes51+21.760s12
530Liam LawsonRacing Bulls51+33.290s10
622Yuki TsunodaRed Bull Racing51+33.808s8
74Lando NorrisMcLaren51+34.227s6
844Lewis HamiltonFerrari51+36.310s4
916Charles LeclercFerrari51+36.774s2
106Isack HadjarRacing Bulls51+38.982s1
115Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber51+67.606s0
1287Oliver BearmanHaas51+68.262s0
1323Alexander AlbonWilliams51+72.870s0
1431Esteban OconHaas51+77.580s0
1514Fernando AlonsoAston Martin51+78.707s0
1627Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber51+80.237s0
1718Lance StrollAston Martin51+96.392s0
1810Pierre GaslyAlpine50+1 lap0
1943Franco ColapintoAlpine50+1 lap0
NC81Oscar PiastriMcLaren0DNF0
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