Verstappen cruises to win as Piastri crashes out - 2025 Azerbaijan GP results

Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed out of the race on the first lap.

Verstappen controlled the race from pole position and was never challenged, leading every lap on his way to the fourth win of 2025 and his second in a row after Monza.

The Red Bull driver won by over 14 seconds from Mercedes‘ George Russell, who secured second from fifth on the grid.

Carlos Sainz gave Williams its first podium since the 2021 season with a superb drive to third position as he held the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli at bay, the rookie securing fourth.

Piastri crashed on the opening lap of the race after running wide at Turn 5, but not before having jumped the start and earning a five-second time penalty that he couldn’t and won’t need to serve.

The retirement was Piastri’s first since 2023, putting an end to a run of 35 consecutive race finishes.

Championship rival Lando Norris, however, failed to make a big dent on the Australian’s championship lead after finishing a disappointing seventh behind Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, fifth and sixth respectively.

Piastri leads the championship by 25 points from Norris, with Verstappen now 69 points behind the Australian.

The result means McLaren will have to wait until at least Singapore to secure its 10th constructors’ championship.

Ferrari had another race to forget as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc didn’t feature in the top positions, coming home in eighth and ninth, the Monegasque letting his team-mate through near the end in an attempt to catch Norris.

Isack Hadjar secured the final points-paying position in 10th.

Story of the race

Pole-sitter Verstappen was the only driver in the top four to start on hard tyres, his rivals all on mediums and no one using the soft compound.

While Verstappen made a solid start to keep the lead, further back Piastri had a disastrous getaway, dropping from ninth to last.

Piastri had jumped the start before stopping again as a reaction, then being overtaken by everybody once he got going.

But moments later, the championship leader locked up and went straight into the barriers at Turn 5, retiring for the first time since the 2023 United States GP.

Piastri’s jump start tricked Fernando Alonso into also moving before the lights went off, the Spaniard getting a five-second penalty.

The safety car was deployed as a result of the crash.

The race was relaunched on lap 5, Verstappen waiting until the very last moment to get going and keep the lead from Sainz.

Norris, who had dropped to eighth at the start, lost a place to Leclerc at the restart before regaining one spot when both the Ferrari driver and the McLaren overtook Hadjar.

With the exception of Russell passing Tsunoda for fifth, the order up front remained unchanged as Verstappen opened a healthy gap of four seconds by lap 15.

The gap grew to over five seconds by lap 20, as some of the medium-shod cars started to pit.

Antonelli from fourth and Leclerc from sixth were the first of the frontrunners to switch to hard tyres. They were followed by third-placed Lawson a lap later, the Kiwi emerging right in front of Antonelli, who overtook his rival with a DRS move down the straight.

Sainz and fourth-placed Norris, both on mediums, extended their first stints for several laps compared to their direct rivals, the Spaniard pitting from second on lap 27 as he came under increasing pressure from Russell.

Norris finally pitted from fourth on lap 38 of 51 but, like at Monza, his pitstop was slow due to a problem with the front right tyre.

The time lost meant Norris rejoined the track behind Lawson and Leclerc in eighth, although the McLaren driver managed to pass Leclerc a lap later.

Verstappen made his pitstop with 10 laps to go while running 32 seconds ahead of Russell, who jumped to second ahead of Sainz when he finally pitted.

Behind them, Ferrari asked Leclerc to let Hamilton ahead as the Briton had medium tyres, which allowed him to close in on the Lawson-Tsunoda-Norris group.

Despite all running very close to each other, the order remained unchanged until the chequered flag.

2025 Azerbaijan GP results