Azerbaijan Grand Prix Round-up

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was entertaining all the way throughout with a massive moment for the championship as Oscar Piastri jumped the start hugely and tried to slow down to counter it but went into anti stall which meant he bogged down completely and ended up last after turn 1. If it couldn't get any worse for him, it did and he locked up going into turn 5 and couldn't turn at all and completely careered into the wall and was out of the Grand Prix. Absolute disaster for the championship leader.

There was also a coming together between Hulkenburg and Ocon literally just after Piastri crashed and at turn 6, Hulkenburg clipped Ocons rear right and he half spun around but kept it going. The safety car came out and Albon and Ocon gambled and pit behind it, and as it came in Russell and Antonelli went wheel to wheel into turn 1 and Russell was shoveled wide by the Italian, close to being in the wall. Leclerc also jumped Norris of the restart too.

Piastri received a 5 second time penalty for the jump start which may carry over to the next race due to his crash. Alonso also jumped start as a "reaction" to Piastri who was right in front of him and also received a 5 second time penalty. Isack Hadjar had a terrible exit from the last corner and was overtaken consecutively by Leclerc and Norris down the start and finish straight on lap 7.

Hamilton also found his was past the Racing Bulls a lap later down into turn 1. Russell finally got past Tsunoda round the outside at turn 3, lap 10 with drs after being overtaken by the Japanese on the safety car restart when he was pushed wide by his teammate.

Pierre Gasly found himself just going backwards during the Grand Prix, being overtaken by Bearman, Albon and Ocon; most overtakes on the main straight, the Alpine just lacking in pace. Lewis Hamilton had a scare going into turn 7, locking up and just avoiding the concrete wall. Albon and Colapinto came together at turn 5, Albon not being able to back out of the overtake on the inside quickly enough and send the Argentine spinning in to the outside wall but being able to rejoin the race. Albon received a 10 second penalty for this action.

Antonelli had an eventful race to say the least, attempting to undercut Lawon for a potential podium on lap 19 with Lawson pitting 2 laps later and battling the Mercedes for a while until Antonelli finally pulled of the overtake and was released on lap 22. Albon also had a run at Alonso after he served his penalty and got past the draggy Aston Martin. Antonelli then made a further, crucial overtake on Bortoleto and later on, Bortoleto overtook Ocon down into turn 1.

Towards the end of the race, there was a large DRS train when Lawson overtook Tsunoda on the run down to turn 3 when he came out of the pits and because the Kiwi had much older tyres, he ended up backing up the pack which consisted of himself, Tsuonda, Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc. George Russell was on fire on his tyres, which were aging heavily but still managed to pull of an incredible overcut on both Sainz and Antonelli and came out on the medium tyres.

Lando Norris managed to overtake Leclerc on his fresh hard tyres, this race somewhat on a plate to gain back big points on Piastri in the championship but the race just didn't go his way. There were some reports of light rain into turn 16 near then end too by Albon. Leclerc also let Hamilton go to try and chase down Norris in the dying stages but that didn't to anywhere, especially being stuck in that train.

Max Verstappen won a dominate Azerbaijan Grand Prix, yet again showing his skill and experience, putting everything together when he needed to. Russell , who was ill all weekend, also but put together an outstanding race to finish P2 with Antonelli in P4 , Mercedes overtaking Ferrari for P2 in the constructers championship again. Carlos Sainz scored an absolutely amazing podium finish for Williams, their first since Russell in Belgium in 2021. After a terrible season for the Spaniard, he can look back on an achievement he called his "best race ever" in the post race interviews. 

Lawson held off everyone to finish in P5, very important for the Racing Bulls team to keep up with Williams after their podium. His teammate Hadjar also claiming the last points position to increase their tally. A miserable day for Ferrari who came home in P8 and P9, they will look ahead to Singapore where they tend to go better at.

This was the full result of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix: