Biggest Winners And Losers From The F1 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

From Verstappen's victory to the strong performance from Yuki Tsunoda, which saw him pace sixth, few can doubt that Red Bull have had a great weekend from a racing standpoint.

Verstappen, who led from start to finish, might have expected a win despite a Grand Prix where his critics tipped him to struggle, but to do it in such dominating fashion, crossing the line 14.6 seconds ahead of George Russell, should have inspired the Dutchman even a little bit more.

While his win was described as 'straightforward', teammate Yuki Tsunoda was involved in a close battle for fifth with Liam Lawson, who eventually finished the race in that position, and Lando Norris.

It was overall a strong weekend for the Austrian team, who narrowed the gap to third in the Constructors' Championship to 14 points behind Ferrari - and off the track, managed to sort out the Christian Horner situation, too.

Loser: Oscar Piastri

It would be easy to put McLaren here as a whole, as Lando Norris did not make amends from a poor qualifying and finished the race in seventh, but Oscar Piastri could not have had a worse day.

After crashing in dramatic style in the final qualifying session on Saturday, that meant he would start ninth on the grid, the Aussie youngster would slam into the barriers with not even a single lap completed.

On a weekend that could have seen McLaren claim the 2025 Constructors' Championship, with the team heading into Baku 337 points ahead of Ferrari, it was not to be, despite Ferrari's disappointing race.

Piastri has some leeway when it comes to the Drivers' Championship as despite his retirement, he is still 25 points, or a full race win, ahead of Lando Norris, but he must get back on form as soon as possible.

Winner: Carlos Sainz

Full credit has to go to Mercedes, who had their drivers finish second and fourth, but almost nobody would have expected Carlos Sainz to pick up third place in a middle-of-the-pack Williams car that looked stronger at the start of the season.

The Spaniard qualified second after a heavily interrupted Q3 allowed the Spaniard's flying lap to remain essentially uninterrupted, bar Verstappen's pole-setting lap, but few would have expected the Williams' race pace to compete with the Mercedes or Ferraris.

He was aided by Liam Lawson in the Racing Bull being behind him for the opening portion of the race, which held the Silver Arrows of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli at bay, but strong driving from Sainz meant that only Russell was able to get the better of him while Antonelli ended up stuck behind in fourth.

Loser: Franco Colapinto

2025 has felt like a real whimper for Franco Colapinto conpared to his headline-grabbing 2024, which saw the Argentine become the first points-scorer from his country in over 40 years at last year's... Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

On that day, Colapinto was able to sneak his way into Q3 and finish eighth on the day, but the same circuit a year later would not bear the same fruit.

Colapinto came into contact with Alex Albon after coming out of the pits on Lap 16, which saw his car spun, and eventually crossed the line 19th, last out of cars that finished the race.

It has been another crushing weekend for the Argentine, who is the only driver currently on the grid to have not scored any points - with the driver in front of him, Ollie Bearman, having scored 16.

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