Azerbaijan GP: Oscar Piastri triumphs in Baku thriller as Lando Norris recovers to beat Max Verstappen

Oscar Piastri fended off Charles Leclerc to win an exhilarating Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Lando Norris recovered to fourth and beat Max Verstappen.

Piastri got here out on prime after an unbelievable battle for the lead for a lot of the race with Leclerc, earlier than Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz collided within the battle for third on the penultimate lap in a dramatic crash.

George Russell benefitted from the collision to take third, with Norris coming dwelling in fourth after overtaking Verstappen late within the race on another technique. Norris reduces his deficit to the Dutchman to 59 factors within the Drivers’ Championship.

Verstappen struggled for a lot of the race as he completed fifth and McLaren now lead Pink Bull within the Constructors’ Championship by 20 factors.

It was probably the most eventful race of the 12 months by way of battling as Piastri and Leclerc went wheel to wheel a number of occasions, then Verstappen and Norris additionally acquired shut at totally different factors within the race.

Fernando Alonso was sixth for Aston Martin, with Williams’ Alex Albon in seventh and rookie Franco Colapinto scoring his first factors in eighth.

Lewis Hamilton had a quiet race in ninth and British teenager Oliver Bearman was tenth for Haas.

Piastri prevails in epic battle with Leclerc

Early on, it regarded like Leclerc was cruising to victory as he pulled six seconds away from Piastri earlier than the primary pit stops.

Piastri pitted on lap 16 and simply stayed forward of Perez after Norris tactically held up the Pink Bull driver within the tight center sector.

Leclerc responded by pitting a lap later however warmed up his arduous tyres slowly and Piastri took benefit with a shocking overtake into Flip One on lap 20.

From then till the closing laps, Leclerc and Piastri had been by no means a couple of second aside as they went wheel to wheel on a number of events.

Each time Leclerc acquired shut on the strategy to Flip One, Piastri coated the within and was capable of cease Leclerc from getting alongside on the exit of the nook.

The McLaren driver additionally had nice traction off the corners as Leclerc simply could not discover a approach by within the epic battle for the lead.

Perez was constantly inside two seconds of the main pair and able to benefit from an incident, however Piastri and Leclerc stored issues clear.

Finally, Leclerc’s tyres started to degrade so Piastri pulled away within the last 5 laps to win his second profession F1 race.

Leclerc needed to look over his shoulder within the closing phases with Perez throughout him and Ferrari team-mate Sainz closing in quick. The Monegasque driver defended properly as Perez went deep on the first nook on the penultimate lap, so Sainz slipped by way of.

Perez got here again on the Spaniard after Flip Two, just for the pair to tangle and hit the wall arduous, so the race ended beneath the Digital Security Automobile.

Norris’ sensible restoration from fifteenth to fourth

Only a few individuals thought Norris would make inroads into Verstappen within the title race after a disastrous qualifying, which left him beginning in fifteenth.

The British driver elected to begin on the arduous tyres, slightly than the mediums, so ran lengthy and located himself in entrance of Verstappen after the Pink Bull driver pitted.

Verstappen was unable to overhaul his championship rival as Norris aggressively shut the door on him on lap 24, which was the closest the reigning world champion acquired to getting by.

Norris then tactically used Alex Albon to assist him by staying within the Williams driver’s DRS, so Verstappen could not get shut on the straights.

Verstappen’s tyres light away as Norris pitted with 14 laps remaining for recent mediums. He was 15 seconds behind Verstappen and commenced to mild up the timing screens with purple sectors and quickest laps.

The McLaren driver caught and overtook Verstappen with three laps remaining to take sixth, which turned fourth following Perez and Sainz’s conflict.

Elsewhere, Hamilton might solely end ninth after ranging from the pit lane as a consequence of an engine change.

Hamilton was caught in visitors for a lot of the race and complained about his tyre efficiency on the mediums and hards.

Williams had their first double factors end of the season as Albon took seventh from team-mate Colapinto, who’s already proving to be a terrific alternative for Logan Sargeant in simply his second F1 race.

Bearman completed tenth in a one-off race for Haas as he substituted for Kevin Magnussen, who was banned from Baku as a consequence of reaching the restrict for penalty factors however will return in Singapore.

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