The Azerbaijan Grand Prix might just have been a major Formula 1 world championship fight turning point, and it was certainly a breakthrough moment for some in the pitlane who have been under growing pressure.
Here are our eight key takeaways from Baku race day.
Sainz has been vindicated
Carlos Sainz's perceived struggles were a major talking point heading into the weekend - even for The Race, which devoted a whole podcast to his difficulties. But he always argued it wasn't a question of lack of pace or struggling to adapt, simply that it required a clean weekend to show it. In Azerbaijan, that's exactly what he had and the result was third place.
"The key was nailing a perfect weekend from practice, qualifying, to race," said Sainz.
"It's what I've been looking for since the beginning of the season. We almost had a perfect one in Jeddah, when we scored maximum [possible] points, but the rest of the season has been really up and down with a lot more downs than up. Very unlucky in some cases, job not done well in others by me or by other things that were in our control."
A modified approach to making the most of tyre preparation, a consistent problem for Williams, meant he was able to deliver on the few clear laps he had in qualifying. That earned him second on the grid, and it was only the fact the Williams didn't quite have the pace required early in his second stint on hard Pirellis that allowed George Russell to overcut him. - Edd Straw
Tsunoda's made a breakthrough
After months of frustration as he struggled to get to grips with the quirks of the Red Bull RB21, Yuki Tsunoda finally had a bit of a bounce back in his step after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
While his qualifying pace had recently shown some good gains as he edged closer to team-mate Max Verstappen on upgrade specs, he was still lacking when it came to his race form.
But a post-Monza sim session at Red Bull's Milton Keynes factory had opened the door to experiment with something new in his approach, and it unlocked something that had been lacking before.
After applying whatever this was – because both he and the team were very tight-lipped about it - Tsunoda's race run form in Baku seemed to come alive.
Speaking to The Race over the weekend, he said he was now having a "completely different experience" in the car.
Qualifying was not great in terms of the gap to Verstappen, and it was a messy session for most people, but Tsunoda finally showed on a Sunday that he has some fight in him as he kept a McLaren and Ferraris at bay behind him.
His pace was strong, and he only missed out on being able to stay ahead of Liam Lawson after his stop by a few tenths of a second as his tyres were too cold coming out of the pits. That meant he got passed by Lawson and, trapped behind, ended up sixth - holding off Lando Norris.
At a time when Red Bull is evaluating its 2026 line-up, what team boss Laurent Mekies hailed as Tsunoda's "best race with us" could not have come at a more opportune moment. - Jon Noble
McLaren genuinely fears Verstappen title charge
After Verstappen took pole position in Azerbaijan, while Norris and Oscar Piastri floundered in qualifying, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella made it very clear he was concerned.
"Red Bull are a very serious contender to win races and a very serious contender for the drivers' championship," he said. He was then asked if he really considered Verstappen to be a factor, replying "a firm yes – can you write it in capital [letters]?"
Verstappen's victory 24 hours later reduced the points gap to leader Piastri to 69 points with 199 still to play for across the seven remaining grands prix and three sprints.
Given Stella cited Baku, along with Las Vegas, as McLaren's weak track in the run-in there's no reason to be too concerned about the performance of the car, while closing a gap of that size against opposition that fast is close to impossible even for a driver of Verstappen's brilliance.
However, what Stella will fear most is McLaren dropping the ball too many times, through complacency, pressure or focusing too much on its own in-house title fight. If there are more Baku-style weekends, Verstappen could make enough gains to become a realistic threat.
Red Bull has made gains with its Monza floor and front wing upgrade and Stella is certain those gains aren't circuit-specific. The upcoming Singapore Grand Prix will be a big test, and if Red Bull is a threat there then it underlines the fact everyone at McLaren needs to be on top of their game to ensure Verstappen doesn't get close enough to be a genuine contender.
That's why Stella is right not to count him out. After all, as he also warned, "we don't have to forget that first of all, he is Max Verstappen…" - ES
Antonelli's no longer underwhelming - but needs to do more
Kimi Antonelli knew he needed to respond well to the tough love comments from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after Monza, where his race had been called "underwhelming."
Wolff's criticism had put the spotlight on the youngster heading into Baku, and in such circumstances it would have been easy to crack, put it in the wall or underperform and only add further pressure on himself.
But instead – despite a bit of a nervous time at the end of Q1 where it had been a bit touch-and-go if he would get a lap in to get through - Antonelli delivered the exact progress that Wolff had wanted to see.
On a weekend when many a more experienced head had crunched carbon fibre against the concrete walls, Antonelli steered clear of trouble, was close to team-mate Russell on single lap pace, and delivered strongly in the race to be in with a sniff of a podium finish.
That he ended the afternoon disappointed that Sainz had pipped him for third said a lot about how different a weekend he had compared to the frustrations of Zandvoort and Monza. But he knows there is more needed.
And that was a message shared by Wolff himself who labelled Antonelli's form in Azerbaijan as a "good rebound" – but still not up where the team wants him to eventually be. - JN
Lawson won't go down without a fight
With his team-mate Isack Hadjar set for promotion to Red Bull and Formula 2 driver Arvid Lindblad likely to be given his F1 debut at Racing Bulls, Lawson came to Baku fighting for his future.
And his only potential non-Red Bull 2026 option was seemingly closed off when Flavio Briatore told The Race in Baku that Alpine would only be picking between Franco Colapinto and Paul Aron.
So Lawson couldn't have picked a better time to put together his most complete F1 weekend yet, excelling in the tricky conditions in qualifying to take third on the grid, which he converted into fifth in the race, ahead of his chief rival for the final place in Red Bull's plans, Tsunoda.
After a couple of off weekends, with Zandvoort ruined by a clash with Sainz and a general struggle at Monza, Lawson was firmly back to the form that had brought him four top-eight finishes in the seven races before the summer break.
There didn't seem to be much separating Lawson and Hadjar's pace all weekend - as has been the case for much of the year - but Lawson absolutely nailed the execution when it mattered while Hadjar was left rueing errors at the Turn 16 left-hander in both qualifying and the race.
That will only help Lawson as Red Bull makes its final driver call over the next few races. Unlike Hadjar, Lawson isn't in the mix for the senior team, but if he continues to prove to be a dependable points scorer, he just might convince Red Bull that he's the ideal benchmark driver for the second team. - Josh Suttill
Piastri isn't bulletproof
Much has been written of Piastri's infallibility in the white heat of the 2025 title fight so far, but Baku was indeed proof that he's no bulletproof robot behind the wheel.
There had been mistakes before - the off when the rain came down in Australia and a couple of qualifying shortfalls - but never has there been a weekend like this with three big Piastri errors - crashing in qualifying, jumping the start and then crashing in the race.
He and McLaren believe it's a "one-off" and you only have to look at how he bounced back from the Australia disaster by winning in China as evidence of how strong he can recover from setbacks.
And no driver has been truly immune from such weekends, his error rate remains far below McLaren team-mate Norris's - who didn't really take much advantage of Piastri's rare off-weekend.
Even Verstappen had his red mist moment of daftness with Russell at Barcelona, that, with hindsight, has stopped him from being even closer to entering the title fight.
We'll only know in Singapore if this is truly a one-off or simply the first sign that the intensity of the title fight has finally revealed Piastri has some chinks in his armour. - JS
Ferrari knows where it's let itself down
After a season where much of the spotlight on Ferrari's potential has revolved around its car form and the limitations that have held Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton back, its Baku disappointment was the consequence of something else.
At a track with long straights and short corners that offered hope as a happier hunting ground, in addition to Leclerc taking the last four poles at the track, Ferrari had gone into qualifying as many people's tip for pole.
The team talked about Friday having been by far its best of the season; and Saturday morning practice had looked strong too.
But as boss Fred Vasseur conceded after the race, car speed counts for nothing if the execution is not good enough – and that is ultimately what let the team down.
Hamilton's qualifying fell apart in Q2 when his first run was ruined by Leclerc going off ahead of him and his second effort was not good enough. Leclerc got through to Q3 but put it in the wall without setting a time in the final shoot-out session.
The damage was done and Ferrari's entire weekend was framed by it not doing as good a job as it needed to on Saturday - and this was nothing to do with the car.
Speaking on Sunday night about a weekend that at least showed some flashes of speed, Vasseur said: "We are getting there. Now, one thing is to have the potential, the other one is to deliver. And we need, on the execution, to do the job." - JN
Haas is squandering too many chances (again)
You might be getting deja vu because of variations of ‘Haas is squandering too many chances' in previous editions of this very column.
But unfortunately, it has to be repeated in Baku because of the four teams that failed to score, Haas was the one with the car most capable of delivering points.
Ollie Bearman was gutted to not utilise his strong Baku track record - a point on his Haas debut last year and a dominant double win debut in F2 - and VF-25 that he was steering towards top 10 pace before he hit the wall in qualifying and crashed out in Q2.
More from Baku
Mark Hughes: Racing Bulls methods are paying off for Red Bull
Winners and losers from F1's 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
'Unbelievably fast' Red Bull's decline was overblown - Norris
'I'll apologise to Charles' - Ferrari's botched team order
Is Verstappen back in the 2025 F1 title fight? Our verdict
He lost further ground during the early safety car restart, and while he mounted a decent comeback thereafter, he got stuck in DRS trains and ended up 12th.
Bearman's summary that "the car was quick, but we couldn't do anything with it" was an accurate one.
Team-mate Esteban Ocon never really looked like a points threat even before he clashed with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber on the opening lap, as he was battling braking problems throughout Saturday and Sunday.
Haas is running out of time to prevent what's a very solid car with high peaks from finishing second-last in the championship. - JS
