MOMENTS, MILESTONES AND MISHAPS AS MAX COMPLETES YET ANOTHER MASTERCLASS

Twelve months ago it was Max Verstappen who had built was seemed to be an insurmountable lead in the FIA Formula One World Championship during the opening half of the season.

A resurgent McLaren then threatened to steal the title as the McLaren MCL38 found form on the back of some major upgrades.

In 2025 those roles had been reversed.

The rather foolhardy members of the motorsport media declared the 2025 title as a two-horse race just a handful of races into the season.

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s off season dramas and the fine line on which the previous RB20 and the 2025 RB21 danced on a knife edge of performance potential with which only Max Verstappen alone could maximise, seemed economically incurable given the short term nature of the current cars. 

Add a melting pot of discontent filled tot he brim by Internal power struggles, the revolving door of driver moves, Verstappen’s rumoured departure, and the sacking of Christian Horner foreshadowed a inevitable downward spiral of the once dominant force in Formula One..

A more co-operative and analytical approach from Laurent Mekies and a new floor has steered the Oracle Red Bull Team from the rocks to the open seas with a renewed competitiveness.

It may well turn the season on its head.

Since the resumption of racing in late August, Verstappen has scored back-to-back victories for, a feat last achieved by the four time World Champion a year ago in Canada and Spain.

More importantly it has seen the 35 points wiped from the deficit to championship leader Oscar Piastri with seven races left to run.

The 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix proved to be another Max Verstappen masterclass. He snared pole position from Carlos Sainz by a massive 4/10ths of a second under changeable conditions before heading George Russell to the chequered flag by 14 seconds.

Oscar Piastri was a first lap retirement, while Lando Norris found overtaking a difficult task to achieve, finishing 7th behind Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson.

It was a result that could and perhaps should have been a very different affair.

And for that one may well credit Charles Leclerc.

McLaren appeared to be back on track after Norris’ brush with the wall the day before when the British driver topped Q2 from teammate Piastri, with Verstappen third.

Light rain arrived nearing the half way point of Q4, adding to the frequent wind gusts which threatened to put cars offline at the worst possible moment.

Max Verstappen told his engineer, “Mate it’s definitely too slippery now. Russell went straight, it’s raining!”

Lawson and then Sainz topped the early runners, with the pair both in the mid 1.41 second bracket. Oscar Piastri then set the fastest sector 1 time and a personal best in sector 2 before the red flag was waved as the Australian approached the penultimate corner.

Charles Leclerc had gone into the wall at Turn 5.

The rain became more significant as the field waited in their garages for the track to reopen with a little over 5 minutes left to run. Only three drivers had set a competitive time, which meant the rest were set for a single lap dash for pole position.

Piastri’s day came to an abrupt end at Turn 3 when his McLaren MCL 39 ran head long into the outside wall, having misjudged the grip levels as had Leclerc before. It was the sixth stoppage of the session, which in itself became another unwanted Formula 1 record.

“A disappointing end to Qualifying,” Piastri later told McLaren Media.

“I was pushing a little bit too hard and, unfortunately, paid the price. The car felt good, and we were in a good position to fight for Pole, so it’s a shame. There are still plenty of opportunities to maximise the pace I know we have. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Norris was hampered by his teammate’s misfortune, cutting short what had been a purple entree to his lap. His final run was then tarnished with another swipe with the wall that saw him finish in 7th, two places ahead of Piastri.

Max Verstappen had no such misfortune claiming pole position by a massive 4/10ths from Sainz and Lawson. Antonelli, Russell and Tsunoda filled the top 6 places ahead of Norris, Hadjar, Piastri and Leclerc.

The race then proved to be even more frustrating for the papaya squad as the universe has begun to realign upon the Red Bull family.

Verstappen, as expected, held an advantage over Sainz from the initial launch at the start of the Grand Prix and held a clear lead into the opening corner. Sainz was next followed by Lawson, Antonelli, Russell and Hadjar, who had gained a place over a slow starting Lando Norris.

If Norris’ start was poor, then words could not describe that which afflicted Oscar Piastri.

Piastri later explained that he had reacted too soon to the starting process and had to stop his McLaren MCL39 from moving forward. That triggered an anti-stall process which plummeted the #81 to the rear of the grid.

An attempted move around the outside of Esteban Ocon at Turn 5 saw the McLaren lock a left front wheel and understeer into the barriers to driver’s right. Less than a third of the way into the race and it was game over for the Australian.

“Certainly not my finest moment,” Piastri said to Sky Sports F1.

“I just anticipated the start too much, and it was a silly, simple error with that. Then, the crash – I just didn’t anticipate the dirty air in the way I should have. I clearly went into the corner way too hot and that was that.

“The grip level was low, but I should have known that. I’m certainly not blaming it on anything other than myself, I just didn’t make the judgement calls that I needed to at the right time, and that’s obviously disappointing.”

“Qualifying yesterday, it was what it was,” he added. “Then today, just more silly mistakes. It was certainly a messy weekend for sure, but I would be more concerned if I was slow and trying to make up for it that way and having these errors because of that.

“But the fact that they’re just simple lapses in judgement… it’s not a position I want to be in or to put the mechanics in, because it has been a rough weekend for them. If I’m trying to find a silver lining, at least I have that.”

With no access back to the paddock from his position on the side of the track, Piastri then spent the next two hours watching the race from a borrowed phone as the Safety Car circulated and his car was recovered.

Showing no lingering despair from the incident Piastri later took to social media to post on his walk back to the garage.

“Short race out there. On a positive note, I saw a nice necklace in the shop next to me, early birthday present ideas for my Mum.”

As Piastri’s McLaren became stuck in the barriers, Ocon and Hulkenberg subsequently banged wheels at the exit of Turn 6 before the yellow flags came out.

It took four laps to finalise the clean up and reposition the TechPro barriers before racing resumed on Lap 5.

Verstappen was quickly out to a 1.2 second lead over Sainz and Lawson, while Norris dropped to 9th after losing places to both Hadjar and Leclerc. The rookie Racing Bulls driver didn’t get to enjoy that position for too long as Norris and then Hamilton moved ahead of the Frenchman.

A spin for Colapinto on Lap 18 after a touch from Albon did little to disrupt the flow of the race as the Alpine stayed off the wall and continued after a quick recovery spin had him in the right direction once more.

The Pitstop cycle for the lead group commenced on Lap 19, with Antonelli the first of those to change to the hard tyre. Lawson stopped a lap later and emerged ahead of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 momentarily, before losing the battle down the main straight shortly after.

Max Verstappen was doing things rather easily up front, having elected to start on the hard compound tyres. He set a blistering pace, leaving Sainz 8 seconds in arrears by the time the Williams headed to the pitlane on Lap 26 of 51.

Norris ran longer than most of the medium compound starters, hoping to leapfrog Leclerc later in the race. That moved came unstuck when another wheel gun problem delayed his exit from the pitlane, leaving the McLaren driver stuck between Leclerc and Hamilton on his return.

To add another twist to the tail, Norris sat amidst a freight train of cars ed by Lawson. Each enjoyed the benefit of DRS from the car ahead, which provided somewhat of a stalemate for passing opportunities.

Verstappen was by now a mere speck in the distance some 14 seconds clear of the battle between Russell and Sainz for second. That eventually fell to the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1, whilst the Williams team were more than overjoyed at the prospect of a podium finish for their car.

The attention moved back to the battle for the minor places in the points paying positions as Norris tried to progress. Both Lawson and Tsunoda were hell-bent on gaining bragging rights from their Red Bull battle, with Lawson marginally ahead in fifth place.

The young New Zealander put up a defensive effort more akin to the All Black rugby team which proved most effective in keeping the second Oracle Red Bull at bay. That provided somewhat of a domino effect with Tsunoda clear of Norris, while Hamilton and Leclerc traded places with the #44 on fresher tyres in pursuit of the McLaren.

The final laps promised much but delivered little in terms of change, Verstappen won by 15 seconds from Russell, who had been suffering from Influenza all weekend, and Sainz in third.

Antonelli, Lawson, Tsunoda, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc and Hadjar completed the Top 10.

“It was an incredible weekend and today we had really good pace and it ended up being quite a straightforward race. Starting out in front today was key for us and we managed our tyres well,” Verstappen told Oracle Red Bull Racing Media.

“It has been a great weekend overall and the last two weekends for sure have been amazing. Both are tracks where we have low downforce so we will see how we go on other circuits. Hopefully we can continue forward with this form, but we are just enjoying the moment right now. We are really happy with what we are doing: the relationship that I have with the Team is really good and when the car goes well, everything comes together.”

Photos: F1 FB

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