© Getty Images

Max does the grand slam as Bulls go big in BakuA great weekend for the Team - Read the full race report and reactions.

MaxVerstappenconvertedpole,ledeverylapoftheraceandpostedthefastestlapattheBakuCityCircuittotakehissixthcareergrandchelemandanutterlydominantAzerbaijanGrandPrixvictory,beatingMercedes’GeorgeRusselltotheflagbyalmost15seconds.AsuperbBullruninBakuwascompletedbyYukiTsunoda,whodeliveredhisbestresultfortheTeamwithahard-foughtsixthplaceattheflag.

When the lights went out at the start, Max, on hard tyres, got away well from pole to take a comfortable lead ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, with VCARB’s Liam Lawson holding his starting position of third.

Behind them, Yuki also had a good launch and was able to muscle his way past George Russell. The Mercedes driver responded, however, and battled back to reclaim the position, leaving the Japanese racer in his starting position of sixth.

There was drama unfolding behind the leaders, however. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, starting from ninth, moved too early ahead of lights out. His anti-stall engaged, and as he tried to get going, the full field swept past, dropping the championship leader driver to dead last. He tried to make a swift recovery, but going into Turn 5, the Australian locked up and arrowed straight into the barriers, bringing out the safety car.

The SC left the track at the end of lap 4 and Max controlled the restart perfectly, and, within a handful of corners, he had built a 1.4s gap to Carlos. Yuki also worked the restart well, and when Kimi Antonelli squeezed teammate George towards the barriers, Yuki pounced, powering past the Briton for a second time to steal P5.

Keeping his cool under pressure.© Getty Images

The Mercedes driver soon began to fight back and Yuki was forced into defensive mode. The resistance initially looked good, but at the end of lap nine, the Mercedes closed right up under DRS on the long run to the start/finish line and pushed past around the outside of Turn 3 to take the position.

At the front, Max was in full control, and by lap 16, the Dutchman had a solid five-second lead over Carlos, who was in turn more than three tenths clear of Liam, who was being pressured by both Mercedes drivers.

Kimi, bottled up behind Liam, was the first of the front runners to make a pit stop, diving in at the end of lap 18 to swap his starting mediums for hard tyres. Charles Leclerc was next in, and he too made the same switch on the following lap. Liam then pitted on the following lap, and Yuki, still on his starting hard tyres, rose to fourth place ahead of Lando Norris.

Light traffic in Baku.© Getty Images

At half distance, Max was 7.5s clear of Carlos, whose four-second advantage over George was slowly being eroded. Yuki was four seconds behind the lead Mercedes and two seconds clear of Lando, who was going long on his starting medium tyres.

Carlos made his switch from medium to hard tyres on lap 28 and he rejoined in sixth place, behind hard-tyre starter Lewis Hamilton. That promoted Yuki to a podium position.

Lando made his stop at the end of lap 38, attempting to undercut Yuki, but the McLaren driver had a problem with his front right, and a four-second halt put him behind both Liam and Charles.

Yuki pitted on the next lap and he made a two-second stop for medium tyres, putting him out ahead of Lawson, but with more grip and immediate pace, the New Zealander was able to get ahead of Yuki, leaving in P6 ahead of Charles and Lando.

Max finally made his stop for mediums on lap 41 and he returned to the lead ahead of George, who had emerged from his stop ahead of Carlos. Kimi had put in a good spell after his stop, and he now sat in fourth ahead of Liam, Yuki and Lando, and Lewis, who had managed to use his tyre advantage over Charles to steal seventh.

With Max in total control at the front, the major battle became the one for fifth, with Liam ahead of Yuki and Lando.

Balancing the need to attack Liam and defend against the inevitable onslaught from Lando, Yuki pushed hard to the flag but in the end crossed the line in sixth place for his best result yet with the Team.

At the front though, Max was flying, and even though he could afford to throttle back in the closing stages, the Dutchman kept pushing, logging the fastest lap on the penultimate tour to seal the grand chelem. His sixth grand slam puts him level with Lewis and just two behind all-time record holder, Jim Clark.

Another trophy for the cabinet...© Getty Images

With Max beating George by 14.6 seconds, third place went to Carlos, who took Williams’ first podium in four years. Kimi took P4 ahead of Liam, Yuki and Lando, and Lewis snuck past Charles to take P8 at the flag. The final point went to VCARB’s Isack Hadjar.

For us to win here again is just fantastic. Max Verstappen

“This weekend has been incredible for us,” said Max afterwards. “For us to win here again is just fantastic. And I think also in the race, the car was working really well. On both of the compounds, we had clean air all the time, and you could then look after your tyres. And yeah, it was pretty straightforward. Of course, it's not easy around here — very windy today, so the car is always moving around a lot. But yeah, of course, incredibly happy with this performance.”