Piastri wins superb Azerbaijan F1 GP as Norris eats into Verstappen’s title lead | Formula One

F1 is engrossing and incredibly tense, but it might be honoured if the final third of this season delivers the same emotional drama as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, an epic battle played out in the streets of Baku in a classic nose-to-tail race at the front that saw McLaren's Oscar Piastri win from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

And the race may have been a pivotal moment for McLaren, as Piastri's team-mate Lando Norris also managed an incredible comeback from 15th to fourth, far beyond the odds, to keep their title hopes alive.

Piastri's victory, the 23-year-old Australian's second in just his second season in F1, was captivating from the moment he took the lead from Leclerc on lap 20 and then held on to the lead for the next 30 laps as Leclerc ducked, dived and rammed into Piastri's gearbox at every opportunity.

The gap between the two was just half a second for most of the race, but the battle was decided by the drivers' skill, not the DRS. After a dramatic ending with a high-speed crash between Red Bull's Sergio Pérez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, Piastri was the deserved winner. On the penultimate lap, while battling for third place, both cars crashed hard into the wall, but the drivers were unharmed.

Piastri considers it the best race of his life. “This is probably the best win of my career,” he said. “It was incredibly hard because I was trying to withstand the pressure for so long. I thought I had a chance, or half a chance, after the pit stop so I had to try not to let it go. I thought it was one thing to be at the top, but I knew there was hard work ahead after that.”

That Piastri was in a position to come out on top was at least partly down to his teammate Norris – the irony of Norris assisting Piastri a week after McLaren were debating team orders in Norris's favour cannot be ignored, but Norris' performance was a solo piece to the accompaniment that made the race special.

Norris started from 15th after being caught out by yellow flags in qualifying and his race was expected to be one of damage minimisation, but he showed coolness and control to work his way up the ranks to finish fourth, ahead of title rival Max Verstappen in fifth. On fresh tyres, Norris was 15 seconds behind the Dutchman and needed 13 laps to close the gap, but he did so with ruthless precision, finishing two laps short of the world champion.

The expected tilt towards Verstappen changed to a three-point win for Norris, reducing his lead to 59 points with seven races remaining, but the title was still within reach.

In the process, he also played a team role, delaying Pérez after his pit stop and allowing Piastri to hold on to second place after pitting – no small thing in ensuring the Australian driver the opportunity to make a race-changing move, diving down the inside at Turn 1 to take the lead from Leclerc.

It was a bold, decisive move. Leclerc admitted he hadn't expected it and therefore didn't mount a defense. Piastri gave it his all, struggling to slow himself down from his car and bringing it into the corner just beside the barriers. If proof was needed, here was the ruthless eye and touch of a champion, and then, backed by nerves of steel, he flawlessly executed his defence against a charging Leclerc. Piastri had been flawless in Baku.

For McLaren, the win and Norris' return were also a joyous moment: they beat Red Bull by 20 points in the constructors' championship and now lead the title race for the first time in a decade. Given how poorly they had performed in the 2010s, the magnitude of the achievement is a remarkable testament to the turnaround the team has made.

Team principal Andrea Stella had to take a breather to gather his thoughts about the race: “Great driving by Oscar and great teamwork,” he said after some reflection.

“Lando did a bit of work today to help Oscar out and it was a great recovery from 15th place. Really strong team, strong drivers. I'm very proud of them.”

The importance of those strengths should also be clear to still-struggling Red Bull: Verstappen's struggles and constant complaints to his team about his car's handling, balance and grip are all too well known, and even if he is well placed to fight for the title, his team is not.

Of course, they will be regretting the late crash that saw Perez and Sainz locked in a life-or-death battle, with Sainz slipping past the Mexican and colliding with Perez on the back straight, allowing Mercedes' George Russell to move into third place.

On subsequent investigation, the race stewards declared it a racing incident, but the sudden explosion of carbon fibre was enough to ensure the race was finished under a virtual safety car, a fitting end to an otherwise fascinating competition.

Fernando Alonso finished sixth for Aston Martin, Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were impressive seventh and eighth for Williams, while Lewis Hamilton, who started from the back of the grid after an engine penalty, was ninth for Mercedes. Haas' Oliver Bearman was 10th in only his second Grand Prix.