Piastri beats Leclerc in thrilling battle; Norris outscores Verstappen

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took a superb second career win in Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix after first passing and then holding off polesitter Charles Leclerc.

Mercedes’ George Russell joined them on the podium after a dramatic late crash between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.

Leclerc had taken his fourth consecutive Baku pole on Saturday and looked good value to finally convert it into a first win on the high-speed street circuit.

The Ferrari driver kept the lead at the start from Piastri, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez passing the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz for third.

World champion Max Verstappen mirrored his Red Bull team-mate by diving up the inside of Mercedes’ Russell for fifth.

With a one-stop on mediums and hards expected, Leclerc built up a comfortable six-second gap on Piastri and Perez, while Verstappen complained of his car’s behaviour and struggled to keep up with Sainz in fifth.

Perez was the first of the frontrunners to pit for hard tyres on lap 14, but his stop didn’t trigger an immediate reaction from Leclerc and Piastri to avoid an undercut.

Waiting an extra lap, Piastri was poised to lose second, but Perez came back out behind Piastri’s team-mate Norris, who had started in 15th and helped hold the Mexican up so Piastri could retain his position.

Piastri’s stout in and out-laps also cut his deficit to Leclerc to just over a second, and on lap 20 the Australian made a late lunge to the inside of Turn 1 to take the lead of the race.

Leclerc first told his team he thought Piastri’s pace was “crazy”, given there were another 30 laps left to run on the hard tyres.

But rather than letting Piastri ride off into the sunset, Leclerc stayed with him and tried to return the favour on several occasions into Turn 1, with Piastri standing firm each time.

That battle allowed Perez to sit back behind the pair in third, taking less life out of his hard tyres, while Sainz was also closing in following a lonely race in fourth.

As Perez failed an overtake on Leclerc on the penultimate lap, Sainz looked poised to benefit and slip past for third, but coming out of Turn 2 the pair tangled and made a hard crash into the wall.

Piastri headed Leclerc and Russell home under the virtual safety car, while Norris rounded off his comeback race in fourth.

Norris started on the hard tyres and was initially able to hold off Verstappen, who continued to struggle with rear-end bouncing. After finally making his lap 38 pitstop, Norris clawed back a 15-second deficit to repass Verstappen for fourth.

In the background Fernando Alonso rounded off a lonely race to sixth, holding off hard-tyre starter Alex Albon who had run as high as third in the first stint.

Rookies Franco Colapinto put in a commendable performance to follow Albon in eighth, taking points on his second grand prix outing.

Lewis Hamilton made a solid comeback from a pitlane start to finish ninth, after choosing to make engine and suspension changes overnight.

Impressive Oliver Bearman also took a maiden point for Haas, edging out his experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg for tenth.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was the only other retirement after a lap one clash with Aston’s Lance Stroll, with left Tsunoda with terminal floor damage and Stroll with a puncture.

By virtue of taking the fastest lap, Norris’ comeback race saw him claw back three points to Verstappen, narrowing the gap to 59 points.