Qualifying

Charles Leclerc took his fourth consecutive pole position at the Baku City Circuit, with a lap time of 1:41.365s to take the top spot three-tenths clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to add to his 2021, 2022 and 2023 poles at the circuit, with Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz rounding out the top three positions.

Q1

With the slippery track conditions proving difficult for the drivers during the final practice session, the build-up to qualifying saw many fans debating whether they would see a Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren or Red Bull driver claim pole position.

Before the greens flag were waved around the track to start the first qualifying session, there was already one place decided on the starting grid for Sunday’s race, with Zhou being handed two 10-place grid penalties for exceeding the limit of power unit changes after mechanics fitted a third Energy Store and a third Control Electonics element.

Most of the grid opted for the soft compound tyres from the start of Q1, with only Mercedes opting for the medium compound. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, set the time to beat early on in the session with a 1:43.436s, placing him marginally ahead of Sainz, Leclerc, Verstappen, Piastri and Norris.

Williams’ Franco Colapinto raised eyebrows as he set a flying lap time just shy of the top spot by a tenth to split the Ferrari drivers, whilst at the other end of the timings, there was trouble for both the Kick Saubers, both Alpines and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo.

With drivers pushing harder to improve their times on an evolving track, replays showed Colapinto having a slight brush with the wall, whilst Bearman came close to doing the same thing – the rookie looking for redemption after misjudging his entry into Turn in FP3 and hitting the barriers.

Leclerc took the top step on his next flying lap with a time of 1:42.775s, ahead of Russell, Perez and Hamilton.

After all but the top three driver returned to the pits to change tyres, the final minutes of the session saw Leclerc remain in P1, from Albon, Piastri, Gasly, Hamilton and Verstappen, with Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Russell and Perez all completing the top 10.

Tsunoda, Sainz, Stroll, Bearman and Alonso all did enough to progress to the next session, with Championship contender Norris being the shock exit in Q1 – finishing in 17th after a moment in the final sector saw yellow flags flown for a slowing Ocon and the McLaren driver having to abort his flying lap. Norris was joined in the elimination zone by Ricciardo, the Kick Sauber duo of Bottas and Zhou, and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Q2

The remaining 15 drivers took to the track once again at the start of Q2, with Verstappen and Perez forming a provisional Red Bull one-two after the Dutch driver set a lying lap of 1:42.042s, with Piastri moving into third from Russell, Bearman and Sainz.

Ferrari soon responded after changing up their run plans, enabling Leclerc and Sainz to move into second and fourth place respectively after setting times on a clear track. Perez remained the only driver to sit in the garage to avoid any drama as the minutes ticked by until the chequered flag was flown.

With no further improvements in the closing stages of the session, Verstappen remained in P1 ahead of Leclerc and Perez, followed by Russell, Alonso and surprise visitor Colapinto, who secured his position into the pole-shootout in only his second weekend in Formula 1.

Sainz, Piastri, Hamilton and Albon also progressed to Q3, leaving Bearman, RB’s Tsunoda, Alpine’s Gasly, Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll all eliminated from the session.

Q3

With all eyes on the pole position shootout, Leclerc produced the lap time ot beat in the opening stages of the session with a time of 1:41.610s,placing himself ahead of team-mate Sainz and Piastri, with Reigning Champion Verstappen suffering a slide in the final sector.

With the cars filtering out of the pitlane once again in the closing minutes, there was drama for one of the Williams cars, with Albon being released from the garage with the aribox fan still attached to his car. This forced the Thai driver to have to stop on the side of the track and remove it himself before attempting to make it to the start/finish line in time for another flying lap.

After another sequence of flying laps, Leclerc improved to a 1:41.365s to take pole position, ahead of Piastri – the Australian having a moment on the exit of Turn 15 on his flying lap – with Sainz taking P3 ahead of Perez, Russell and Verstappen.

Hamilton and Alonso finishing in P7 and P8 respectively, with the Williams duo of Colapinto and Albon taking P9 and P10, after Albon failed to make it to the line to start his final lap before the chequered flag was flown.

Race

Oscar Piastri claimed victory at the conclusion of a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix, narrowly beating Charles Leclerc to the chequered flag, with Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez crashing out late on in the race in the pursuit of the podium.

Multiple penalties were handed out at the end of qualifying, including Pierre Gasly who was relegated the back of the grid after being disqualified from the session over a fuel flow breach, whilst Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon were forced to start the race from the pit lane after taking on additional power unit elements outside of their allocation for the season.

With the lights out on the race, Leclerc made a strong lead from the line after starting on pole, keeping his advantage over Piastri in place into Turn 1, whilst both Red Bulls were on the charge, with Perez making his way past Sainz and Verstappen clearing Russell under braking in the second corner.

Norris seemed on the charge, making multiple moves as he rose through the order to 12th by the conclusion of the opening lap, with Lance Stroll suffering from an early puncture, which only benefited the McLaren driver.

The Briton gained a further place at the start of Lap 3, passing Tsunoda going into Turn 2 and taking P11. The Japenese driver struggled later on in the lap, losing places to Hulkenberg, Ricciardo and fast-pace Gasly and Hamilton, with replays showing a moment earlier on when Stroll attempted an overtake on Tsunoda at Turn 4, only to result in the Canadian tagging the right-rear of the RB.

Despite a strong start, Leclerc was not having the clean break at the front like he would have wished, with Piastri sitting just within the one-second DRS window. The McLaren driver soon utilised this overtaking aid to apply some more pressure down the main straight.

Lap 8 saw Norris make it into the points-paying positions, thanks to a clean move on Bearn into the braking zone at Turn 1, with the Haas stand-in soon dropping back towards team-mate Hulkenberg thanks to a close encounter with the barriers at Turn 15.

Colapinto was the first driver within the top-10 to pit for fresh tyres, prompting Alonso to follow the decision on the next lap to defend against a potential undercut. Russel and Verstappen pitted on Lap 13, battling respective issues involving a potential plastic bag in the left-hand airbox for Russell and balance issues for Verstappen.. Perez pitted a lap later, whilst Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz, Albon and Norris continued.

Norris was asked to stay out and hold up Red Bull’s Perez in the middle sector in order to help out team-mate Piastri who rejoined the track just ahead of Perez when he pitted. Race-leader Leclerc pitted on Lap 17, with teammate Sainz pitting a lap later, whilst Tsunoda stopped once again to retire the car amid apparent damage.

The change for the lead came on Lap 20, as Piastri moved closer to Leclerc and then utilised DRS on the start/finish straight to dive up the inside of the Ferrari going into Turn 1.

As the leaders moved down the main straight on Lap 29, Leclerc was now a few car lengths closer to Piastri and had a look at an overtake on the approach to Turn 1, with McLaren driver being forced to defend and hold onto his advantage.

Leclerc’s next attempt at an overtake came on Lap 33, with an attempt going into Turn 1. A compromised exit forced Piastri to move defensively on the run up to Turn 2, with battling between the pain allowing Perez to close the gap and make it once again a three-way fight.

Verstappen and Russel once again went wheel-to-wheel for the second time in just as many laps, with the latter doing just enough to keep the P6 position from the reigning World Champion.

Norris finally pitted for new tyres on Lap 38, rejoining the trak in seventh place, behind Russell and Verstappen, with Albon continuing his way up the order after passing Hulkenberg into the first corner.

With Leclerc over the radio to his team reporting that Piastri was beginning to struggle, another overtaking attempt for the lead came into Turn 1 on Lap 41, however the McLaren driver placed his car in all the righ places and once again held onto P1. Leclercs bid to take the lead diminished after he reported that he had “no rear tyres at all”, enabling Piastri yo go clear at the front by a few seconds, with the Monegasque driver now underpressure from Perez and team-mate Sainz.

Lance Stroll was forced into the pits to retire the car after apparent technical problems, whilst Norris passed Championship rival Verstappen into Turn 1 with only a couple laps left of the race.

Perez was forced wide at the exit of the first corner after attempting to go around the outside of Leclerc, finding himself fighting with Sainz at Turn 2, before going side-by-side on the race to reach Turn 3 first.

Neither driver would get there though, as their paths converge and sent the Red Bull and Ferrari violently into the wall, sending debris across the track, and forcing Race Control to end the race under the Virtual Safety Car.

With the final lap being held under caution, Piastri had his first chance to breathe and took the chequered flag ahead of Leclerc, whilst Russell benefited from the late incident to claim the final spot on the podium.

Norris finished ahead of Verstappen, with the pair finishing in P4 and P5 respectively, whilst Norris also stole the additional point for the fastest lap, with Alonso in sixth from the Williams duo of Albon and Colapinto.

Hamilton took ninth, followed by the final points-scorer of Bearman, after a late pass on Hulkenberg. Gasly, Ricciardo and Zhou were the final drivers to finish on the same leading laps, with Ocon and Bottas crossing the line a lap down.