F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025: Full Results And Report

Verstappen led the field from the start but the story was down in the field as Piastri endured a nightmare first five corners. The Australian jumped the start slightly and by stopping, fell right to the back by the first corner.

Trying to fight back through the rear of the pack, Piastri locked up at Turn 5 and lodged his McLaren in the barriers for the second time in two days.

That early safety car settled the pack down with Lando Norris falling to eighth behind Isack Hadjar, who had faced a scare pre-race as his Racing Bulls mechanics raced to fix a hydraulic issue on the grid.

Verstappen made the perfect restart to ensure Sainz couldn't attack but Charles Leclerc caught Norris napping into Turn 1 to take ninth.

DRS trains dominate opening stint

With both Leclerc and Norris getting by Hadjar early on, the Briton was focused on getting past the Ferrari driver and try to chase after the top six.

Frenchman Hadjar's struggles were highlighted by Hamilton's move on him on Lap 8 to shuffle him back to 10th as Norris continues to hassle Leclerc in front, giving the seven-time champion chance to latch onto the train behind fifth-placed Yuki Tsunoda.

That train was disrupted when Russell got past the Red Bull on Lap 10, dragging his way by down the outside into Turn 3 with the help of DRS.

But as DRS trains set in, overtaking was hard to come by for the rest of the first stint, with Franco Colapinto pitting from 13th at the end of Lap 16 to trigger the pit window.

The Argentine was then rotated on his out lap after contact with Alex Albon, though neither hit the barriers and a safety car was avoided. The Williams driver was hit with a 10-second penalty.

A stop for Kimi Antonelli at the end of Lap 18 was the first of the frontrunners, with Leclerc following a lap later to release Norris. Antonelli tried as he could to undercut Lawson for net-third but the Racing Bulls strategy team managed to get its driver out in front when he pitted two laps later than the Mercedes.

The move would be made at the start of Lap 22 as the Italian rookie would power past with DRS down the long start-finish straight.

Podium battle hits strategic intrigue

Sainz was concerned by the chance of being undercut by the closing Russell and would pit from second at the end of Lap 27. The pace of his first stint was good enough to still emerge ahead of Antonelli, with Hadjar in between the duo.

That shifted focus onto what Mercedes would do with Russell, with the intention for the hard tire-running Briton to extend to create a late-race tyre delta. Russell had a six-second advantage over Tsunoda's Red Bull by Lap 32 and still had pace in the tyre as the duo, Norris and Hamilton were all extending their stints.

Norris' chances of advancing up the field were aided by Leclerc's inability to fight his way past Lawson after their stops, stopping the Ferrari's advancement on fresher tires compared to the McLaren.

On Lap 37 Norris was asked if he could close to the back of Tsunoda to try and attempt an undercut on the Japanese driver, with the pit stop coming a lap later. But for the second race in a row, Norris was stationary for over four seconds with McLaren struggling to get a new wheel on - this time the front-right.

That brought him out behind Lawson and Leclerc and left work to do on-track and, crucially, gave Tsunoda the advantage to stay ahead.

Indeed when Tsunoda returned to the circuit he emerged in front of Lawson, though the Kiwi got through immediately with warmer tires.

Rain fails to materialize as Verstappen dominates

Rain was predicted to hit in the latter stages in the race but as Russell pitted with 12 laps to go to jump ahead of Sainz with the overcut, it seemed as though it would remain dry for the remainder of the running.

That left Antonelli to fight Sainz for the final podium position and the train of Lawson, Tsunoda, Leclerc and Norris to battle for fifth.

The sole remaining McLaren breezed past Leclerc with DRS into Turn 1 for seventh to partially remedy his slow stop. But out front, Verstappen was imperious to lead home Russell by over 14 seconds, the Mercedes driver shrugging off a respiratory infection to take second.

Sainz took Williams' first podium in a full-length event since this race in 2017, with Antonelli finding a welcome return to form in fourth.

Lawson held onto fifth in front of Tsunoda and Norris, despite a late attack from the McLaren driver. Hamilton was ahead of Leclerc and Hadjar, who rounded out the top 10 despite his early issues.

Nineteen drivers finished the race, with Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto rounding out the classified results.

F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025: Full race results

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