Following a disastrous qualifying result in Azerbaijan for the championship-leading McLaren-Mercedes team, with relatively lowly seventh and ninth positions on the starting grid, the situation became even worse as the team’s championship-leading driver Oscar Piastri false-started and then crashed out of the race on Lap 1. The normally reliable Mr. Piastri, and we must remember that he has been showing composure beyond his age (24 years … by no means ‘young’ as a professional racing driver, but not a veteran either), had easily the worst performance of his season. No doubt, his character and the guidance of manager Mark Webber will see him bounce back quickly.
At the other end of the spectrum, Williams-Mercedes driver Carlos Sainz Jr. had easily his best performance of the season. Mr. Sainz qualified second, after holding provisional pole position through part of qualifying, and then drove smoothly to secure third position in the race. The Williams team had not achieved a podium finish for a long time, and it was fitting that its popular new driver would be the one to get the team back there.
George Russell (Mercedes) also drove well, overtaking Mr. Sainz through pitstops to take second place. As far as I am aware, he and his team are still yet to agree on a new contract, which I understand many see as a disservice to Mr. Russell’s excellent driving for Mercedes. We will have to see how that situation pans out.
Unsurprisingly, defending world champion driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) drove a sparkling lap to qualify in pole position, and then never lost the lead throughout the race as he drove first across the finish line. It was back-to-back wins for Mr. Verstappen after his victory in Italy a fortnight ago. Yuki Tsunoda, in the second Red Bull car, managed a creditable sixth place. This was the best overall performance for Red Bull this season, as typically the second driver has not achieved a points finish.
For the Racing Bulls team, Liam Lawson started from third position and finished a very commendable fifth, while Isack Hadjar started from eighth position and finished tenth. This was only the second race of the season where Racing Bulls had both drivers finish in the points. Taken with Red Bull’s result, this must be the best overall result for the Red Bull company’s teams in some time.