Sergio Perez takes first F1 Sprint race victory in Baku

Sergio Perez took victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Sprint race ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

The Mexican managed to make a move a couple of laps after the only Safety Car period into Turn 1 on Leclerc, who had to concede to the superior pace of the Red Bull on the straights.

Leclerc was able to hang on for a few laps with DRS, but eventually dropped out of the window as he defended P2 from Verstappen.

The Dutchman was recovering after contact with George Russell at the start, which put him down to P4.

After complaining of damage from the contact over team radio, he managed to pull off a move at the restart into T1 and retake the position from the Mercedes.

The Safety Car came out after two laps of racing, when Yuki Tsunoda tagged the wall at Turn 13 which tore the rear-left wheel off, and caused race-ended suspension damage.

Once the race restarted, a few drivers used the opportunity into T1 to take positions. Lewis Hamilton dropped a couple of places at the restart, conceding to both Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso in the opening corners which put him down to P7.

Elsewhere Lance Stroll made up a few positions after losing out at the start, eventually getting past Oscar Piastri and Alex Albon for P8.

The Williams driver held on for a top ten finish, but just missed out on the points-paying positions in P9.

Soft tyre gamble does not work for Norris, Bottas and Ocon

Three drivers elected to start on the Soft tyre including Lando Norris in the top ten, however he quickly found towards the end that it was a bad decision as he lost multiple positions from lack of grip.

Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas also suffered similar fates, with the Alfa Romeo driver remarking that he thought the tyres were going to "melt" with a few laps left.

Both Norris and Ocon elected to pit, while Bottas stayed out and finished in P16 ahead of both.

Norris dropping out promoted his teammate Oscar Piastri up into the top ten.