Giles Richards’s report has landed. With that, the blog is ready to wrap. Thanks for following along, til next time.
So, where does this leave the drivers’ title fight? After his crash on lap one, Piastri remains on 324 points, while Norris has 299 in second. Verstappen is up to 255 points in third. Surely not … ?
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The customary champagne spray leaves everybody soaked. The extended Williams team continue to go wild for Sainz, who can be satisfied with a landmark achievement.
The top three take their places on the podium to raucous applause. After various national anthems, Verstappen raises the trophy high.
“This weekend has been incredible for us,” says Verstappen. “For us to win here again is just fantastic and I think the car was working really well … I’m incredibly happy with this performance.”
“We’re really happy to be back on the podium,” says Russell, who has been under the weather this weekend. “I’m looking forward to a bit of rest now.”
“Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am, how good this feels,” Sainz tells Sky Sports. “We’ve been fighting hard all year and we’ve proved when everything comes together we can do some amazing things.”
Sainz celebrates wildly with the Williams mechanics, having secured his first podium finish for the team.
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More correspondence here, this time from Beau Dure. “If Norris can’t get past Tsunoda, then the Red Bulls are clearly on another level. Verstappen will probably win five to six of the remaining races, and if that happens, Piastri has to be a fixture on the podium to hold him off.”
We’ve got an email from Michael Cosgrove. “Verstappen it is then. Hmmm. Errr, he couldn’t could he ... ?”
Verstappen wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix!
It’s a good day for Verstappen, who made it look easy really. Russell comes in second, Sainz third, Antonelli fourth, Lawson fifth, Tsunoda sixth, Norris seventh and the two Ferraris in eighth and ninth. Hadjar rounds off the top 10.
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Lap 50/51: Norris is looking to make a move but there’s no obvious opportunity. Tense!
Lap 49/51: Two laps left to go. It remains tight between eighth and sixth.
Lap 48/51: Still no change, though Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton are practically neck and neck.
Lap 47/51: Lawson clings on to fifth place for dear life. Will someone make a move?
Lap 46/51: No sign of rain yet, despite the warnings. No change in the standings, either.
Lap 45/51: Verstappen is over 13sec clear of Russell in second. Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton are practically glued to each other.
Lap 44/51: Norris closes on Tsunoda in sixth but can’t quite get past him. Hamilton isn’t too far behind them.
Lap 43/51: Reports of light rain at turn 16 come over Albon’s radio. Verstappen leads by almost 12sec.
Lap 42/51: Verstappen is the last driver to pit and comes out in 2.4sec on medium tyres. It’s looking good for Red Bull.
Lap 41/51: Russell pits and gets out in 2.3sec. He’s pushes hard and rises to second, getting ahead of Sainz.
Lap 40/51: Lawson gets the jump on Tsunoda, pushing the Red Bull driver back to sixth.
Lap 39/51: Norris finds himself in eighth, behind Leclerc in seventh. Tsunoda pits.
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Lap 38/51: It’s a slow pit stop for Norris at 4.1sec. That won’t help his chances.
Lap 37/51: Hamilton pits and comes back out in ninth. Norris looks set for an imminent pit stop.
Lap 36/51: Norris gets a radio message encouraging him to make a move on Tsunoda. Is the undercut on?
Lap 35/51: Leclerc is right on the shoulder of Lawson in eighth. Gasly pits.
Lap 34/51: Sainz is maintaining the gap between him and Antonelli in sixth and seventh. Bortoleto overtakes Ocon to rise to 12th.
Lap 33/51: When are the front five going to roll the dice and pit? It’s a battle of wills in Baku.
Lap 32/51: Verstappen leads by over 13sec. It’s been an excellent showing so far.
Lap 31/51: The top five – Verstappen, Russell, Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton – are yet to pit. They will need fresh tyres sooner rather than later.
Lap 30/51: Hadjar duly pits, making a clean stop to switch over to hard tyres.
Lap 29/51: Antonelli is closing on Hadjar in seventh. Hadjar tells his Racing Bulls team: “We should pit before he overtakes me.”
Lap 28/51: … and he does! The Williams driver is on hard tyres and now back in sixth.
Lap 27/51: Sainz is over 10sec behind Verstappen. He may need to pit.
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Lap 26/51: Bortoleto pits, dropping down to 16th. He’s on to medium tyres now.
Lap 25/51: Antonelli makes his move on Gabriel Bortoleto, with the Mercedes driver rising to eighth.
Lap 24/51: Rain is inbound, apparently, but it’s unclear whether it will be light or heavy.
Lap 23/51: Verstappen’s lead is up to 7.4sec. He’s in fine fettle as things stand.
Lap 22/51: Fernando Alonso heads to the pit and switches to hard tyres, also serving a five-second penalty for a jump start.
Lap 21/51: Lawson pits to swap on to hard runners. Russell is up to third.
Lap 20/51: Albon gets a 10sec time penalty for nicking Colapinto. Leclerc pits to swap to hard tyres.
Lap 19/51: Antonelli pits, making a 2.7sec stop to swap to hard tyres.
Lap 18/51: There’s contact between Albon and Franco Colapinto, sending the latter spinning into the wall. It’s not at high speed, thankfully, but Albon may get a penalty for that.
Lap 17/51: Hamilton has a close shave, almost going into the wall. He recover, however, and remains ninth.
Lap 16/51: Albon comes into the pit to swap to hard tyres. It’s frustrating for him after that overtake, but could be a smart move.
Lap 15/51: Russell closes on Antonelli, Antonelli closes on Lawson. Third spot is up for grabs.
Lap 14/51: Alex Albon rises to 17th after overtaking Gasly. There are intriguing duels all over the circuit at the moment.
Lap 13/51: Verstappen is now almost 3.5sec in front. Russell has drawn closer to Antonelli, the two Mercedes drivers turning up the heat on the front three.
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Lap 12/51: Antonelli begins to put serious pressure on Lawson in third. Oliver Bearman has overtaken Pierre Gasly to rise to 16th.
Lap 11/51: Verstappen has widened his lead to almost 3sec. Sainz and Lawson are hanging in there.
Lap 10/51: Tsunoda defends desperately against Russell, but in vain. The Mercedes driver gets round him with a deft move and rises to fifth.
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Lap 9/51: Sainz is 1.7sec behind Verstappen and holding his own in second place. There’s a big battle for fifth place shaping up, with Russell, Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton all chasing Tsunoda.
Lap 8/51: Hamilton is climbing the standings, rising to ninth after some smart overtaking.
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Lap 7/51: The yellow flag goes up briefly, but green soon follows. Norris is hot on the heels of Charles Leclerc.
Lap 6/51: Verstappen is still out in front and going well. Sainz, Lawson and Antonelli remain second, third and fourth.
Lap 5/51: Norris moves up a position after getting one over on Isack Hadjar. The McLaren driver is up to eighth.
Lap 4/51: The safety car comes in and we’re back under way in Baku. Verstappen guns it, while Russell is overtaken by Tsunoda and drops back to sixth.
Lap 3/51: Esteban Ocon has had to come into the pit to swap tyres after an early collision with Nico Hülkenberg. A chaotic start to the race!
Lap 2/51: Piastri’s crash is the big talking point. He jumped the start and it all went wrong from there. High drama.
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Piastri appeared to lock up while trying to regain position from the back. Could that change the fate of the title? It’s a huge opportunity for Norris.
Piastri crashes!
The championship leader doesn’t even make it through the first lap. He’s in the wall and the safety car has been called.
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Lights out!
And they’re off. Verstappen makes a strong start, but Piastri has dropped back to last!
George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda, in fifth and sixth respectively, are also on hard runners. The McLarens are on the medium. Lights out is coming up.
Verstappen has gone for a hard tyre, while Sainz, Liam Lawson and Kimi Antonelli are on medium. The formation lap is under way.
Asked about race strategy, Hamilton gave some interesting insight. “I think it’s really dependant on the weather or the wind, particularly the temperature of the day,” he said. “At this temperature it’s probably closer to a one-stop I imagine, but if it gets cooler it could lead to graining, so who knows.”
Lewis Hamilton, who starts in 12th place, has been speaking to Sky Sports. “We need to be moving forwards, we are out of place and it was looking really good in practice,” he said. “The car has been feeling great all weekend and I honestly felt it was the strongest package we’ve had this year.
“I hope we can progress forwards, this is an amazing circuit for overtaking, we’ve got a great crowd and so I hope we can put on a great race.”
Conditions in Baku? Windy, unsurprisingly. There could be rain, so the teams will have to adapt their strategies accordingly.
The Azerbaijani anthem is playing, the teams are standing to attention in the pit. Not long to go now.
Preamble
Good morning! It’s time for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. What can we tell you? Max Verstappen is on pole with Carlos Sainz in second after a messy qualifying session which featured a record six red flags, while Lando Norris is back in seventh and Oscar Piastri is in ninth after crashing out. Can the McLaren drivers close the gap on Verstappen? We’re about to find out.
