If you thought Baku Qualifying was wild, then you’ll want to wait until you hear about the main race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025 because that absolutely blew everyone’s socks off. From the very start, there was drama as the championship leader, Oscar Piastri, crashed into the wall and was out of the race, followed by several crashes, yellow flags, dramatic pit stop failures, and much more!
Max Verstappen ended up winning this crazy race while McLaren ended up enduring the first race in the 2025 season without a single podium finish.
On the other hand, the day was saved by a podium finish for Carlos Sainz in his Williams, while George Russell rounded up the podium. Wild, right? So, let’s take a detailed look at what exactly happened in this chaotic race.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025 Full Recap
Starting from the very beginning of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025, as the lights went out, Max Verstappen launched like a rocket from pole in his Red Bull, giving himself the exact start he needed from turn one to a podium. But what a day it was for McLaren. Oscar Piastri jumped the start and went up to the last place despite starting in ninth place, and just when he made it to the next turn, he was into the wall before you knew it, and he was out of the race.
The track was 10° colder than last year, which meant it didn’t offer the usual grip, and Piastri probably pushed it too hard and ended up in the walls. Meanwhile, the fate wasn’t kind to Lando Norris either as he stumbled at the start and lost positions. Piastri’s crash brought a safety car even before we got a full lap, and it ended on lap 5, where Norris had already lost two positions.
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The mid-race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025 wasn’t much of a cakewalk either. Fernando Alonso was served with a 5-second penalty for a jump start, while Franco Colapinto crashed into the wall on lap 18, and Alex Albon got a 10-second time penalty.
Then McLaren pulled out a Monza again and gave Lando Norris a super-slow pit stop. I mean, 4.1 seconds in Formula 1 is eternity. You could blink thrice in that time period. Well, too bad they didn’t have Oscar Piastri this time to swap positions with Norris to gain an advantage, and he ended up coming in eighth place.
But the good thing is, no one in the front pack had pitted yet, which meant he still had a chance to finish in a better position, but as the fate would have it, everyone pitted and still managed to come out ahead of Lando, and he ended up finishing seventh, right ahead of the two Ferraris.
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Ahead of him was Yuki Tsunoda on sixth and Liam Lawson on fifth, as if both the drivers were literally fighting for their careers in the last lap as their career seems unclear now that Hadjar has been promoted to Red Bull and talks of F2 driver Arvid Lindblad making a debut in Racing Bulls next year are at an all-time high, meaning only one of these two drivers will get to keep their seat, or even worse, both will not be seen in 2026.
It was a good day for Mercedes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025 as George Russell finished second, and Kimi Antonelli gave a tough fight to Sainz for third place but fell short and settled for fourth. This incredible result earned Mercedes second place in the Constructors Championship 2025, trailing behind McLaren.
Now, whoever put their money on Carlos Sainz on the podium deserves a raise because what a race it was for Sainz. He managed to defend his position throughout the race and kept Antonelli off later in the final laps to grab his first-ever podium in his new team.
Now, the driver Lewis Hamilton replaced Ferrari (Carlos Sainz), the driver who replaced Hamilton at Mercedes (Kimi Antonelli), the driver he’s teammates with in Ferrari (Charles Leclerc), the driver he was teammates with in Mercedes (George Russell) and the driver who worships Hamilton (Isack Hadjar) have all stood on the podium, but Hamilton. If this isn’t a call to Ferrari to fix whatever it is that’s wrong with them, then I don’t know what is.
Max Verstappen ended up showing why he’s never out of contention. If it’s mathematically possible, then it will always be a possibility for Mad Max as he closed the gap to Norris, and now he’s just 44 points behind Lando Norris and who knows, if this is how he will race in the remaining races and if McLaren keeps stumbling any more pit stops, then he might get that well-deserved fifth world champion title. With that being said, what a chaotic and adrenaline-pumping race it was at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025. Now, let’s take a look at the full results.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025 Full Results
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | LAPS | TIME / RETIRED | PTS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 51 | 1:33:26.408 | 25 |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 51 | +14.609s | 18 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 51 | +19.199s | 15 |
| 4 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 51 | +21.760s | 12 |
| 5 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 51 | +33.290s | 10 |
| 6 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | 51 | +33.808s | 8 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 51 | +34.227s | 6 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 51 | +36.310s | 4 |
| 9 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 51 | +36.774s | 2 |
| 10 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 51 | +38.982s | 1 |
| 11 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | 51 | +67.606s | 0 |
| 12 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 51 | +68.262s | 0 |
| 13 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 51 | +72.870s | 0 |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 51 | +77.580s | 0 |
| 15 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 51 | +78.707s | 0 |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | 51 | +80.237s | 0 |
| 17 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 51 | +96.392s | 0 |
| 18 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 50 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 19 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 50 | +1 lap | 0 |
| NC | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 0 | DNF | 0 |
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