Piastri takes Azerbaijan GP victory after fierce Baku battle

Oscar Piastri has won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, triumphing following a fierce battle against Charles Leclerc around the Baku City Circuit.

The McLaren driver was in a defensive position for much of the race as he fended off numerous challenges from Leclerc.

The race ended under safety car conditions after Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez collided while battling for the final spot on the podium.

The coming together allowed Mercedes' George Russell to snatch third place ahead of championship protagonists Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

The opening stint

On the opening lap, Leclerc held the lead off the line while Piastri consolidated second place.

The Red Bulls of Perez and Verstappen had strong starts to gain one position each, moving into third and fifth respectively.

However, Verstappen's race would not go smoothly as the reigning world champion complained all race long about the behaviour of his car.

On lap 8, Norris, who started from 15th following a difficult qualifying session, successfully found himself back inside the point-paying positions after dispatching Haas debutant Oliver Bearman for 10th.

The first of the front-runners pitted shortly after with Verstappen and Russell switching to Hard tyres on lap 13, as did Hamilton who continued his recovery from his pit lane start.

Battle for the lead

Perez pitted one lap after his Red Bull team-mate from third place and switched onto the Hard compound.

McLaren opted to keep Piastri out despite risking an undercut - however as Perez caught up to the back of Norris, McLaren asked Norris to hold Perez up through the middle sector.

The team play worked as the Australian stayed ahead for second place after his stop, with race leader Charles Leclerc boxing soon after.

The earlier stop for Piastri allowed him to close up on Leclerc and on lap 20, the McLaren driver threw his car up the inside of Turn 1 to move into the lead of the grand prix.

Leclerc followed Piastri closely for the next several laps and on the start of lap 29, Leclerc turned up the pressure for the first time into Turn 1 - however Piastri managed to hang on.

Leclerc continued his hunt of Piastri as the race entered its final 10 laps.

With Perez running close behind, Sainz also joined the battle as the race entered its final stages.

On lap 47, Leclerc’s tyres fell off the cliff allowing Piastri to stretch his lead while the Monegasque fell into the clutches of Perez and Sainz.

As the trio engaged in battle two laps from the end, Perez and Sainz came together as they tussled for the final spot on the podium.

The crash, which triggered a virtual safety car, promoted Russell to third place.

Norris made a late-race overtake on title rival Verstappen, with Fernando Alonso bagging his best result since Canada in sixth place.

Williams capped off a strong weekend in seventh and eighth with Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto respectively, the latter scoring his first F1 points.

Lewis Hamilton was ninth, while Oliver Bearman bagged an solitary point for Haas in his first race for the team.