Verstappen & Red Bull Hit A Grand Slam In Azerbaijan

Max Verstappen celebrates his Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory Sunday. (Andy Hone/LAT Images for Red Bull)

BAKU CITY, Azerbaijan – In a start-to-finish performance, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen collected his fourth Formula 1 win of the season and second in a row during Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Verstappen never trailed after launching from the pole position, leading all 51 laps and besting his closest competition, Mercedes’ George Russell, by 14.609 seconds at the checkered flag.

Adding in the fastest lap of the race – a one minute, 43.388 second clip on the penultimate time around Baku City Circuit – Verstappen earned his first ‘Grand Slam’ since last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sunday marked the 67th victory of the four-time F-1 champion’s illustrious career, still at just 27 years old.

“It was an incredible weekend, and today we had really good pace and it ended up being quite a straightforward race,” explained Verstappen. “Starting out in front today was key for us and we managed our tires well. We were going well on the first stint and executed everything how we wanted to. Our strategy was to go from hard [compound] tires and then on to mediums, and luckily there were no safety cars in the middle of the race which might have messed that up.

“This is a tough track to be consistent at, with the challenging layout and also very hard winds, so you have to keep reminding yourself to keep out of the walls! I was happy with the car, and we really managed our pace and had quite a big gap to the Mercedes,” Verstappen added. “It has been a great weekend overall and the last two weekends, for sure, have been amazing. Both are tracks where we have low downforce, so we will see how we go on other circuits. Hopefully we can continue forward with this form, but we are just enjoying the moment right now.

“We are really happy with what we are doing; the relationship that I have with the team is really good and when the car goes well, everything comes together.”

Verstappen’s lone pit stop, for the aforementioned medium tires, came with 11 to go and he comfortably rejoined in front of Russell to maintain the lead from there.

Russell’s runner-up finish was his best finish since winning the Canadian Grand Prix back in June.

Williams’ Carlos Sainz converted his front-row starting spot from Saturday into a podium result in the race, crossing third ahead of the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who secured a career-best F-1 finish in fifth place.

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, and Isack Hadjar in the second Racing Bull closed out the points scorers in the top 10.

The only incident of the race came on the opening lap, after championship leader Oscar Piastri jumped the start lights and engaged the anti-stall when he hit the brakes, dropping to last before the first corner.

Piastri’s problems only compounded from there, as he slammed the barriers at turn five once he got up to speed, crashing out of the race and failing to finish for the first time all season.

The DNF, combined with Norris’ seventh-place run, trimmed Piastri’s advantage in the driver’s championship to 25 points with seven races remaining on the calendar.

Formula 1 heads next to Marina Bay Street Circuit for the Singapore Grand Prix, held under the lights on Sunday, Oct. 5. Norris won last year’s Singapore event from the pole position.

The finish:

1. Max Verstappen, 2. George Russell, 3. Carlos Sainz, 4. Kimi Antonelli, 5. Liam Lawson, 6. Yuki Tsunoda, 7. Lando Norris, 8. Lewis Hamilton, 9. Charles Leclerc, 10. Isack Hadjar, 11. Gabriel Bortoleto, 12. Oliver Bearman, 13. Alex Albon, 14. Esteban Ocon, 15. Fernando Alonso, 16. Nico Hulkenberg, 17. Lance Stroll, 18. Pierre Gasly, 19. Franco Colapinto, 20. Oscar Piastri (DNF).