23/09/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | SEPT 23, 2025

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PIT LANE

Verstappen wins in Baku

Not my finest moment: Piastri OSCAR PIASTRI said he blamed himself for committing a “silly error” when he crashed out on the opening lap of Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix as McLaren missed out on a chance to clinch a second straight teams’ title. The series-leading 24-year-old Australian locked up and hit the barriers at Turn Six, ending his run of 34 races in the points, before Red Bull’s four-time champion Max Verstappen delivered a masterclass to claim his second win in a row. With teammate and title rival Lando Norris battling home seventh, Piastri’s McLaren team were unable to beat Ferrari by nine points to secure their 10th Constructors’ Championship. “That was not my finest moment,”he admitted.“I just anticipated the start too much and then I made a silly, simple error and crashed. I didn’t anticipate the dirty air as I should have done and going into the corner I was too hot. “I am not blaming anything or anybody but myself. I didn’t make the judgement calls I needed to at the right times.” McLaren team chief Andrea Stella said it had been a difficult weekend. “Today we made it worse with the crash and the somewhat uncharacteristic mistakes from Oscar,” he said. “I hope we have collected them all here in this event.” Sainz celebrates landmark Baku podium SPANIARD Carlos Sainz said his third-place finish and first podium since joining Williams had given him a “life lesson” as he celebrated “the best result of my career” with a song at Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. On the team radio during his slow-down lap he sang “This is my first ‘smooth operation’ for Williams,” a reference to the 1984 classic Smooth Operator sung by Sade, and which was given to him as a nickname by former teammates. A four-time race winner with former team Ferrari, Sainz scored Williams’ first podium of the year and first – in a full race – since Lance Stroll finished third at the same event in 2017. “I am extremely proud of everyone at Williams for pushing through a very difficult year,” said Sainz. “We have proved to everyone that we have taken a massive step compared to last year. “We are on the rise and going in the right direction, but unfortunately, with me, we have had a lot of bad luck and incidents.” Sainz’s success made him the second F1 driver after four-time champion Alain Prost to finish on the podium for McLaren, Ferrari and Williams and lifted him six positions to 12th in the drivers’ title race. “This tastes much better than any other thing I was expecting,” said Sainz. “It’s a life lesson to keep believing and trusting yourself and your team around you, because sooner or later it always pays off.” Hamilton apologises to Leclerc LEWIS HAMILTON said he would apologise to Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc after he failed to hand back a place in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The seven-times Formula One world champion finished eighth and Leclerc ninth in the race in Baku. After Leclerc had let Hamilton go past on fresher tyres to try and catch cars ahead, Ferrari asked them to swap back on the final lap but the positions ultimately remained the same. Hamilton, who started 12th, said he got the message late on when he was still focused on trying to catch McLaren’s Lando Norris. “Basically I did lift on the straight, and did actually brake, but he (Leclerc) missed it by like four tenths,” he explained. “That was just a misjudgement by myself. I’ll apologise to Charles.” Team boss Fred Vasseur said Hamilton appeared to have misjudged the position of the start/finish line and Leclerc indicated he was not too fussed. “Honestly, for a P8 or a P9 it’s not going to be a big talking point. I don’t really mind,” said the Monegasque. “These are things that we agree between us and the general rules of how we want to work whenever there’s a swap, it didn’t happen and that’s OK. “It’s not like I would have been a lot happier being P8.”

Red Bull Racing’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen crosses the finish line to win the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix. – AFPPIC

Defending champion reminds McLaren he can shake up title run-in M AX VERSTAPPEN showed other contenders on Sunday that he and Red Bull remain serious contenders to disrupt both F1

was very windy with the car moving around a lot. I am very happy with this performance.” Asked if he stood by earlier comments suggesting he had given up hope of winning another drivers’ title, he said it was a difficult task to overhaul Piastri. “There are seven races remaining and a 69-point gap,” the Dutchman said. “It’s a lot.”

championships with his imperious lights-to flag triumph at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. His second consecutive win from pole position confirmed Red Bull’s potential following the mid-season exit of long-serving team boss Christian Horner and the value of new chief Laurent Mekies’ softer more technically-focussed style. The opening-lap exit of McLaren’s series leader Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris’s struggle to finish seventh left Red Bull within reach of overhauling Ferrari and

“I would need to be perfect on my side and have a lot of luck too.” His experience and the much-improved performance of the Red Bull car since it was upgraded for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza has lifted the team after it went winless after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May. “It’s difficult to say at the moment, but the last two race weekends have been amazing for us,” said Verstappen. “Singapore is a completely different challenge again with the higher downforce, so we will see what we can do there.” Driving with supreme authority, the Dutchman led from lights to flag to claim his first win on the unforgiving

Mercedes for second in the constructors’ championship and Verstappen within 50 points of Norris in the drivers’ title race. With seven events remaining, Piastri has 324 points. Norris is second on 299. Verstappen, the four-time champion is on 255. In the constructors’ race Red Bull have 272 in fourth behind Ferrari on 286, Mercedes on 290 and McLaren on 623.

“This has been an incredible weekend,” said Verstappen. “Last weekend, in Italy, was great for us already, but to win here again is just been fantastic. In the race, the car was working really well on both compounds, we had clean air all the way and I could look after the tyres. “So, it was pretty straightforward which is not easy round here and it

barrier-lined Baku street track, his second in succession this month, fourth this year and 67th of his career. Verstappen came home 14.609 seconds clear of Mercedes’ sickly George Russell and 19 clear of Carlos Sainz who scored his first podium and best result since joining Williams from Ferrari this season. – AFP

Red Bull Racing’s driver Max Verstappen celebrates with his trophy after the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix. – AFPPIC

Evenepoel sets sights on making time trial history

REMCO EVENEPOEL had barely crossed the finish line before declaring he would try to retain his world time trial title next year and in the process make history. The 25-year-old Belgian secured a hat trick of world championships with a dominant win in Sunday’s individual time trial, blitzing the field to win by more than a minute through the streets of the Rwandan capital. He joins Australia’s Michael Rogers (2003-05) and Germany’s Tony Martin (2011-13) as those who have previously won three in a row. “The list I have joined are two pretty impressive guys in Tony and Michael so it’s a big step for me to step up there and, yeah, I guess next year I have to go for another

he had Pogacar in his sights, Evenepoel said: “I think on a day like today, it doesn’t matter who it is, but I just wanted to push as hard as possible from the first climb on, then I just tried to recover as much as possible in the descent, and of course, on the cobbles, when I saw that I was coming closer quite quickly, I knew I had to push through.” Victory also offered some redemption after a tough year for Evenepoel, who went into the Tour de France with crash injuries and withdrew on stage 14 in the mountains, describing it as one of “the rawest and most vulnerable” moments of his career. Next year’s world championships are set for Montreal. – Reuters

one, because I want to be the first to get four in a row,” Evenepoel said. He had been expected to be in a tight tussle with Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, who had set his sights on winning both Sunday’s time trial and next weekend’s men’s road race. But Pogacar was no match for Evenepoel, who caught him two kilometres from the end on the cobbles of Cote de Kimihurura. He already had a 45-second advantage over the Slovenian at the first time check after 10.6km and by the third time check, after 31.6km, had stretched his advantage to almost 90 seconds as Pogacar’s ambitions faded. Asked what went through his mind as