2025 F1 Round 17, Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Verstappen leads every lap to win as Sainz ends Williams’ podium drought

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix, round 17 of the 2025 F1 season, took place at the Baku City Circuit on the evening of September 21, China Standard Time (UTC+8). Verstappen (Red Bull) started from pole and led throughout, completing a “grand slam” of pole position, fastest lap, every lap led and victory to claim his fourth win of the season. Yuki Tsunoda finished sixth, his best result of the season.

The four-time world champion thus secured back-to-back victories following his win at the previous round, the Italian Grand Prix, cutting his deficit to championship leader Piastri (McLaren) from 94 points to 69.

As in qualifying, incidents came thick and fast from the outset of the 51-lap race. Piastri’s car moved before the starting signal, and his hurried application of the brakes triggered the anti-stall system, dropping him to the back. He then understeered into the wall at Turn 5 on lap 1 and retired, ending his streaks of 34 consecutive points finishes and 44 consecutive race finishes—the latter the second-longest in history. His crash also brought out the race’s only safety car. Alonso (Aston Martin), who started behind Piastri, was prompted into moving early as well and received a five-second penalty for a jump start, eventually finishing 15th.

It was a heavy blow to Piastri’s title challenge, although his teammate Norris, currently second in the drivers’ standings, “only” finished seventh. Norris chased Tsunoda hard in the final stint but could not find a way past, crossing the line in the same seventh place from which he had started.

Tsunoda overtook Russell (Mercedes) after the start to move into fifth, only to be passed back almost immediately. At the lap 5 restart, he took advantage of the battle between the Mercedes drivers to pass Russell again, but was overtaken once more on lap 10 and then lost touch. On lap 38, Norris pitted in an attempt to undercut Tsunoda, but a slow right-front tyre change cost him more than four seconds. This allowed Tsunoda to switch to medium tyres on lap 39 and rejoin ahead of Lawson (Racing Bulls). However, Lawson passed him on the entry to Turn 3, leaving Tsunoda unable to hold the position. He continued to pursue Lawson in the DRS zones, but with the team’s interests and Verstappen’s title challenge taking priority, he refrained from aggressive moves to avoid exposing himself to a counterattack from Norris behind, ultimately finishing sixth. The new floor and adjustments to his own driving did improve his race pace, but he still lacked enough to take another step forward. In fact, had his pace in clean air during the opening stint been a little stronger, a podium would still have been difficult, but he would have had a very good chance of holding on to fifth.

Russell demonstrated precisely that. Like Tsunoda, he extended his opening stint on hard tyres before switching to mediums on lap 41, overcutting Antonelli, Lawson and Sainz (Williams) in one sweep to claim second place, 14.609 seconds behind the winner.

Sainz secured his first podium since joining Williams with third place, ending the team’s podium drought, while Antonelli finished fourth. Ferrari’s pair endured a tough race: Hamilton finished eighth and Leclerc ninth, with the team overtaken by Mercedes in the constructors’ standings and dropping to third.

Hadjar (Racing Bulls) suffered a hydraulic problem on the formation lap but was able to take the start and remain in the points, bringing home a single point in tenth. Meanwhile, as his teammate reached the podium, Albon collided with Colapinto (Alpine) during a rash attacking move on lap 17, sending his rival to the back of the field. Albon received a ten-second penalty and eventually finished 13th.

Starting tyre strategies were split: both Aston Martins chose mediums and both Red Bulls chose hards, while the remaining teams split their choices between their two cars.