BAKU: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory while Oscar Piastri crashed on the opening lap and had his Formula One lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris slashed to 25 points.

McLaren had hoped to secure their 10th Formula One constructors’ title, and second in a row, on Sunday with a record seven rounds remaining but must now wait until Singapore on October 5 after their lowest scoring weekend of the season.

George Russell finished second for Mercedes, who moved up to second place and 333 points behind McLaren with 346 still to be won, and Carlos Sainz third for Williams’s first podium finish since 2021.

Norris started and finished seventh in what will rank as a missed opportunity, with six points gained on his rival but his chances of more scuppered by a slow 4.1-second pitstop for the second successive race.

VERSTAPPEN WINS SECOND RACE IN A ROW

The win was Verstappen’s second in a row and he led every lap from pole to flag, also setting the fastest lap for a “Grand Slam” that revived his slim title hopes with the reigning champion now 69 points behind Piastri.

He took the chequered flag 14.609 seconds clear of Russell, after being more than 32 seconds clear before taking his pitstop.

“I think this weekend has been incredible for us,” said Verstappen after his 67th career win, fourth of the season and second in Baku after a 2022 victory. “For us to win here again is just fantastic.

“We had clean air all the time and you could then look after your tires. And yeah, it was pretty straightforward.”

Russell, recovering from sickness and starting fifth on the grid, was happy to see a rough weekend finish strongly while Sainz — voted driver of the day — was the happiest man on the podium.

“I cannot describe how happy I am and how good this feels. It tastes even better than my first ever podium,” said the Spaniard, a four-times race winner with Ferrari who had started on the front row.

The big story came on the opening lap when Piastri, who crashed in qualifying and started ninth, jumped the start and went to the back of the field before plowing into the wall at turn five.

The uncharacteristic errors ended the Australian’s record of being the only driver to score in every race this season and also put the brakes on a run of 34 races in the points.

He had not failed to finish a race since his 2023 rookie season.

“Certainly not my finest moment,” the 24-year-old told Sky Sports. “I just anticipated the start too much and yeah...silly simple error really.”

CAREER HIGH RESULT FOR LAWSON

Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli was fourth for Mercedes, redeeming himself after a poor home race weekend at Monza, with New Zealander Liam Lawson enjoying a career-high fifth for Racing Bulls.

Yuki Tsunoda was sixth for Red Bull with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc following Norris home in eighth and ninth, with the pair swapping places on team orders because Hamilton had fresher tires.

French rookie Isack Hadjar made it a double points finish for Racing Bulls in 10th.

Piastri’s crash brought out the safety car, a regular feature of races in Baku, and provided the main drama of the 51- lap race around the windy city streets where the threat of a downpour failed to materialize.

Norris lost a place to Hadjar and was then passed by Leclerc when the race re-started after the safety car period.

The Briton followed Leclerc past Hadjar, whose car had suffered an hydraulics problem before the start, and could have passed both Leclerc and Lawson had his pitstop not cost him critical seconds.

He ultimately passed Leclerc with 10 laps remaining but was unable to find a way past Tsunoda.

“I did the best I could yesterday, the best I could today,” said Norris.

“Every race I didn’t win was an opportunity missed, so of course today I wanted more. It was not a good result, but I couldn’t do anything more today.”