From the opening practice on Friday, the volatility of this street circuit was obvious. In FP1, Lando Norris stamped his authority, setting the fastest lap with a 1:42.704, with championship leader Oscar Piastri right behind him. But that session also featured a dramatic interruption: the track was halted for kerb repairs after debris was found, forcing a 25‑minute pause.  The delay gave teams an unexpected window to recalibrate; McLaren took advantage to address a power unit issue on Piastri’s car. Even with that, Piastri clipped the barrier at turn 15. He survived unscathed, but it was a warning shot. Charles Leclerc, long a Baku front‑runner, finished the session third. 

By FP2, drivers across the grid were pushing harder, trying to feel out grip in crosswind zones and shifting surfaces. Moments of overconfidence or miscalculation led to spins and sanctioning of track limits, but nothing terminal. The order shuffled as teams tried soft tyre stints and race simulations. Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, all had their moments in the mix. Leclerc again showed consistency, reminding everyone of his dominance in Baku qualifying in past years. 

In FP3, with fine margins counting most of all, Lando Norris again struck gold, fastest time of the session, 1:41.223, edging out Max Verstappen by just 0.222 seconds, with Piastri third. McLaren looked dangerous, but in Baku, pace is only half the battle.

As the paddock wound down heading into qualifying, nobody was complacent. The narrow streets offered no margin for error; any mistake could mean immediate grief.

If practice showed promise, qualifying delivered pandemonium. The session became a kind of legend, not one, two, or three stoppages, but six red flags in a single qualifying run, setting a record. Drivers imploded, walls beckoned, and the entire grid was on edge.

The qualifying narrative reads like a thriller. In Q1, Williams’ Alex Albon clipped the inside wall at Turn 1, snapping his front-left suspension and bringing out the first red flag. That initial crash shocked the field. Albon’s push had backfired spectacularly. Then, as the session restarted, Nico Hülkenberg careened into the barrier at Turn 4, damaging his front wing and prompting the second stoppage. Not long after, Pierre Gasly crashed (also at Turn 4) and ignited another red flag.  Franco Colapinto also had a heavy crash in Q1, bringing out another stoppage. But the drama in Q2 and Q3 would push things over the top.

When the pressure ramped in Q3, Carlos Sainz threatened a shock front row, but Charles Leclerc crashed at Turn 15, triggering red flag number five. 

With laps in jeopardy, the track resumed, and Oscar Piastri, the championship leader, attempted to salvage a lap. He misjudged it, crashed into the wall at Turn 3, and sparked the sixth red flag. 

The timing proved cruel: the clock ran down while the cleanup was underway, freezing the order.

When the dust settled, Max Verstappen claimed pole with a 1:41.117, edging out  Sainz by +0.478 seconds, and Liam Lawson grabbed an electrifying third. It was a shock; Williams on the front row was nearly unthinkable just months earlier. Behind them, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell made up the top five, while Yuki Tsunoda claimed sixth. Lando Norris, despite an earlier promise, had clipped a wall and slipped to P7. Piastri and Leclerc, having crashed, were left with no lap time, slotted into 9th and 10th by tie-breakers or default. Lewis Hamilton, who had shown good pace in practice, was unceremoniously eliminated in Q2 and ended up starting 12th. The qualifying session had lasted nearly two hours. 

In interviews afterward, teams admitted the conditions were merciless. Wind made cornering unpredictable, grip dropped in each patch, and no one had a clean run to spare. Sainz described his lap as perfect but said he never expected Williams to be on the front row in Baku. And for Piastri, the crash was a cruel blow, one error that might echo deep into the championship fight.

Sunday in Baku dawned hot, dry, and electric. The grid lined up under the bright sun. But few expected what would unfold mere seconds after lights out.

At the green, Oscar Piastri, starting ninth, nearly stalled, dropping toward the back. As he fought to recover, he lost control and crashed into the barrier in turn 5, retiring on the spot almost immediately. 

The opening lap carnage had claimed the championship leader before the real race had even begun. 

Verstappen, from pole, flared off cleanly, his race now suddenly smoother. From there, Verstappen was never challenged. He led all 51 laps, pacing the field, managing tire degradation, and exploiting the clean air ahead. His margin at the finish was over 14 seconds ahead of the chasing pack.  Behind him, Russell took second, remarkable given that he had battled illness earlier in the week. And in third, Sainz celebrated a career-defining podium: Williams’ first in four years. Kimi Antonelli, close to another podium finish, finishing fourth, but never having the pace to catch Sainz. Behind, a fierce midfield fight raged for fifth, where Liam Lawson, from his strong starting spot, came out ahead, a career best result. Yuki Tsunoda also scored well, adding to Red Bull’s weekend points haul. Norris, though given a gift by Piastri’s crash, could only scramble to P7, unable to capitalize fully.

The podium held significance beyond just victory. Verstappen’s win gained momentum in the title chase, while Sainz’s resurgence showed that in Baku, anything can happen. Russell’s consistency rewarded perseverance. For McLaren, the nightmare of Piastri and Norris blanking on the podium stung; the constructors’ title celebration would have to wait. 

In retrospect, the 2025 Azerbaijan GP will be remembered less for who won than how it unfolded. The practices teased speed, but they also whispered danger. Qualifying shattered records, six red flags, dozens of crashes, heartbreak for title contenders, and a front row nobody quite expected. The race itself, though more controlled, was still volatile: a first-lap implosion, Grand Prix strategy under pressure, and an outcome that ripples through the championship.

Perhaps the most remarkable detail: Carlos Sainz, starting off the line as an outsider, achieved one of the best qualifying and race combinations of his career. To follow that with a mega-crash of Piastri and a masterclass of Verstappen’s dominance is the sort of storyline that reminds us: on the Baku streets, legends are made or broken in single mistakes.