![\"Piastri\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2e1984_72839b5d441c4640879005aac934e6d3~mv2.png\")
<\/p>\nWritten by Elaina Russell, Edited by Morgan Holiday<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Piastri\u2019s DNF ended a 34-race points-scoring streak | Credit: Formula One<\/p>\n
The 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix had everything the City of Winds is known for: chaos, heartbreak and unexpected podiums. Max Verstappen reignited his title challenge, Williams shocked the field with a trip to the rostrum, and Oscar Piastri\u2019s bulletproof consistency finally cracked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are DIVEBOMB\u2019s five key takeaways from race day in Baku.<\/p>\n
Piastri\u2019s streak shatters<\/p>\n
For the first time in 34 races, Oscar Piastri failed to score points. His weekend was fraught from the start, a crash in the third round of qualifying forcing a chassis swap and relegating him to ninth on the grid. His race unraveled the weekend further: a jump start triggered the anti-stall, dropping him backwards before he misjudged braking in dirty air at Turn 5, ending his afternoon on the spot.<\/p>\n
Afterward, Piastri admitted: \u201cNot my finest moment.\u201d He refused to blame conditions, taking responsibility for the crash. Despite the DNF though, he retains the lead of the Drivers\u2019 Championship\u201325 points clear of teammate Lando Norris\u2013but the aura of untouchable consistency is gone.<\/p>\n
Verstappen is back in the hunt<\/p>\n
Verstappen\u2019s victory in Baku wasn\u2019t just another win\u2013it was a statement. For the first time since early 2024, the Dutchman has strung together back-to-back wins and three consecutive podiums. Red Bull finally looks competitive again, with Verstappen slicing through cleanly and Yuki Tsunoda adding to the celebrations with a best-placed sixth since joining the team.<\/p>\n
The result pushes Verstappen to 255 points, just 44 off Norris and firmly back in the conversation for the Drivers\u2019 crown. Red Bull, written off at the midseason, may have rediscovered its rhythm.<\/p>\n
![\"Sainz](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2e1984_0d4d20c3a0c84a6b99a8f320c3f3ea51~mv2.png\")
<\/p>\n
Sainz found himself on the podium once more, this time in a Williams | Credit: Formula One<\/p>\n
Sainz delivers Williams\u2019 miracle podium<\/p>\n
Carlos Sainz called it his first \u201csmooth operation in a Williams\u201d\u2013and it ended with his first podium in blue. Nearly stealing pole in a chaotic qualifying session that saw six red flags, Sainz backed it up with a composed drive to second place, delivering Williams\u2019 first podium in years.<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s push for momentum faltered around Baku\u2019s high walls. Strong in practice, they imploded in qualifying\u2013Charles Leclerc crashed in Q3 and started tenth, while Lewis Hamilton was a strategy casualty, eliminated in Q2.<\/p>\n
The recovery on race day was modest. Hamilton finished eighth, Leclerc climbed to ninth, but neither threatened the podium. The statistics are stark: Hamilton remains without a podium in 2025, while rivals like Russell and Sainz continue to tally silverware.<\/p>\n
For a team expected to challenge McLaren, the inconsistency has become defining.<\/p>\n
The Constructors\u2019 wait continues<\/p>\n
For McLaren, Baku was supposed to be the coronation. Instead, Piastri\u2019s crash and Norris\u2019 quiet seventh meant they fell short of clinching the Constructors Championship. The papaya squad still hold a commanding lead\u2013623 points to Ferrari\u2019s 290\u2013but celebrations are postponed until Singapore at the earliest.<\/p>\n
Mercedes gained some ground with George Russell\u2019s second-place finish and Kimi Antonelli\u2019s fourth, but the gap is still insurmountable. The question is when, not if, McLaren seals the title.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Singapore](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2e1984_219b4b5514b24e6eb82196daf33dc5e1~mv2.png\")
<\/p>\n
Singapore streets will shine next | Credit: Formula One<\/p>\n
Looking ahead<\/p>\n
From Baku\u2019s walls to Singapore\u2019s floodlit streets, the battlelines shift again. Verstappen is resurgent, Williams are back in the spotlight and McLaren\u2019s iron grip shows its first cracks. With the championship math still heavily in papaya\u2019s favor, the intrigue now lies in whether Norris can close the gap to Piastri\u2013and whether Red Bull\u2019s revival is real or fleeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Written by Elaina Russell, Edited by Morgan Holiday Piastri\u2019s DNF ended a 34-race points-scoring streak | Credit: Formula…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-161262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}