Max Verstappen took victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. After dropouts by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, he had little to fear from the competition, while Sergio Perez took second place. George Russell crossed the finish line in third place.

Leclerc started the race from pole position, but had to relinquish it at the first corner. After an excellent start by Perez, the Mexican found room to pass his predecessor. Verstappen also had a good start, but he did not manage to find a gap. As a result, he remained on P3, with Carlos Sainz right behind him.

Several dropouts in Baku

Sainz soon had a problem. Within ten laps he suffered a problem with his brakes, which prevented him from continuing the race. During the virtual safety car Ferrari decided to bring Leclerc in for the first tire change, leaving Perez and Verstappen in front. After a few laps Perez let his teammate pass.

Leclerc, meanwhile, was hoping to get closer to Verstappen and Perez, but suffered a major setback. On the straight he suddenly experienced engine problems, which caused him to reduce speed. Leclerc could do nothing more than bring his car to the pit lane and end his race weekend early.

Ferrari saw the Azerbaijan GP come to a rough end. The Italians were certainly not the only ones who had to deal with a dropout, as Haas and Alfa Romeo also suffered. Where Guanyu Zhou saw his race end, Kevin Magnussen also had to go. As a result, the Formula 1 race continued with sixteen drivers on track.

Verstappen drives to victory

Verstappen, meanwhile, built the lead over Perez further to more than fifteen seconds. The Dutch driver was having a great time and decided to drive faster than his team indicated. Where Verstappen then came up with the argument that it did not matter how many tenths he drove faster or slower, his team put him on edge. According to Red Bull, it was important not to cause a blowout, as was the case last year.

Behind Verstappen, Perez and Russell, a fierce battle took place over the course of the race between Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton. The Briton was all too eager to cross the finish line behind Russell, but struggled to get past Gasly. The Frenchman initially defended very strongly, but eventually had to concede to the Mercedes driver.

Up front, however, nothing changed, allowing Verstappen to take his fifth win of the season, further consolidating his lead in the world championship. Leclerc's retirement means Perez takes over second place on the leaderboard. Russell moves closer to Leclerc with his third final position, although the gap is still considerable.