Vintage Max Verstappen and mediocre McLaren - Azerbaijan GP Winners and Losers

The 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix had all of the thrills and spills that one might expect from the Baku City Circuit.

The high-speed track has thrown up various moments of drama during its short history on the F1 schedule, and this year's edition was no different.

Saturday's qualifying session saw six red flags deployed for various incidents, a new record for F1.

While the grand prix on Sunday was a calmer affair, there were still plenty of talking points from the star performers and the individuals who were left disappointed.

So, who has made the RacingNews365 list of winners and losers for the 2025 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix?

Winner - Max Verstappen

This was vintage Max Verstappen.

His display throughout the weekend was reminiscent of his dominant 2023 campaign and seemed to serve as a reminder - a message, even - as to why he still should be considered the strongest driver on the grid.

In Q3 on Saturday, as rain began to freckle the circuit, Verstappen brushed off the concerns of a slippery track surface to improve his lap time on his final effort.

He boasted a near half-second gap to his closest competitor, and on Sunday, he survived the start on hard tyres and a safety car restart that followed soon after.

From there, Verstappen distanced himself from the rest of the pack and took victory after leading every lap, while also logging the fastest lap to take his sixth career grand slam - matching Lewis Hamilton's figure. Only Jim Clark has more career grand slams with eight. 

It was pure class by Verstappen all weekend and easily stands as one of the strongest performances from an individual that we have seen this season.

Loser - McLaren

The Azerbaijan race weekend was just the second time this year that McLaren has failed to get a car onto the podium. And in Baku, it never even had a sniff.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri endured the worst race weekend of his F1 career, but was let off the hook by a poor display from team-mate Lando Norris.

A crash on Saturday during Q3 cemented Piastri's starting position in ninth place, giving him work to do to ensure he exited the weekend with an even bigger margin to title rival Norris.

But after launching himself off the line too early at the race start, Piastri dropped to the back of the field as he scrambled to recover from his mistake. Things went from bad to worse when, just a handful of corners later, he found himself in a barrier and out of the grand prix.

It presented a huge opportunity for Norris to climb the order and eat into the 31-point deficit that was created following his engine failure at Zandvoort last month.

However, Norris got stuck in a DRS train and could progress no higher than seventh, ensuring he walked away with only six points. His efforts were also not helped by yet another slow pit stop, which may have proved costly in the fight for fifth.

McLaren will likely rock up in Singapore with all guns blazing, but there will be frustrations in the Piastri and Norris camps that they could not capitalise on the struggles endured by one another.

Winner - Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz's maiden season at Williams has been filled with struggles and mishaps, with Alex Albon scoring a majority of the team's points so far this year.

But Baku was Sainz's turn for the spotlight, and the Spaniard jumped at the opportunity to clinch his first piece of silverware at his new team.

A blistering qualifying effort on Saturday in mixed conditions saw Sainz bring his Williams car onto the front row alongside Verstappen.

His pace throughout the grand prix was exceptional, and although he could not squash the overcut from George Russell, Sainz's pace was enough to seal him third place on the road.

It marked his first points since the Canadian Grand Prix in June and saw him double his 2025 points tally. More than that, though, it will likely sit as an admirable highlight in a season that has been filled with pain.

Sainz is very much part of Williams for the long haul, but his success in Baku offered a glimpse at the maturity he can bring to the table.

Loser - Ferrari

Ferrari entered the Baku weekend with hope that it could challenge towards the front of the grid after showing flashes of pace in Italy earlier this month.

However, the way the weekend developed was far from what it desired. After showcasing some positive pace on Friday, Lewis Hamilton again fell victim to an early qualifying exit.

Despite progressing to Q3, Leclerc could only consolidate 10th place on the starting grid after crashing in the early minutes of the session.

The Monégasque driver, who is normally an expert around the Baku track with four consecutive pole positions, fell short on this occasion.

In the race, Hamilton made up a handful of positions while Leclerc largely stayed put, leaving the team to walk away from the weekend with six points and continuing the disappointing display that has been on show all year.

In a further blow, its low score saw it drop to third in the constructors' championship.

Winner - Mercedes

It could have been a very different story at Mercedes this weekend, with George Russell almost sidelined with a respiratory illness.

The Briton will be patting himself on the back for not ruling himself out of the drive, as a clinical display on Sunday saw him bag second place and his seventh podium of the year.

It was a highly mature drive from the 27-year-old, and almost what we have come to expect from him in his new position as team leader.

His effort helped lift Mercedes into second place in the constructors' championship, but it was only one part of the equation.

Having voiced hope that he could leave the woes of the European leg of the season behind him and have an improved final third of the campaign, Kimi Antonelli's goal to end the year on a high began impressively.

For only the second time this year, he out-qualified Russell. On race day, it was by no means a perfect display - but one that was a significant improvement on what has become the norm for him of late as he crossed the line in fourth place.

It offers Antonelli a confidence boost and an opportunity to apply what he has learned to the upcoming rounds, as he attempts to convince many that he was not hired too early by Mercedes.

Loser - Alex Albon

Albon joined in on the celebrations underneath the podium on Sunday as the Williams team cheered on Sainz, who picked up the squad's first top-three result in four years.

But underneath the applause and the beaming smile, there must be a crushing sensation weighing on him.

Taking a look at the story of the season to date, it would have been a fair bet to expect to see Albon on the podium before Sainz.

The Thai driver has been sensational this year with multiple point-scoring results, leaving him eighth in the drivers' championship and well out of reach from those behind.

Albon's Baku weekend unravelled during Q1 on Saturday when he hit the inside of Turn 1 in a very uncharacteristic error. In the race, he progressed up to 13th place but picked up two penalty points and a time penalty for a clumsy shunt with Franco Colapinto.

It was an unusually poor weekend for Albon, one that he will quickly seek to erase from the memory - but that will be easier said than done as the Williams team celebrates Sainz's podium.

His stock still remains high, but there may be some bitterness from him that Sainz has achieved a podium in his first season with Williams, while he is still waiting for his first at Grove in his fourth campaign with the squad.