F1 Azerbaijan GP: Piastre beats Leclerc in thrilling battle; Norris overtook Verstappen

McLaren's Oscar Piastri took a stunning second career win at Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix and then held off pole sitter Charles Leclerc.

Mercedes' Jorge Russell joined Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz on the podium after a dramatic late crash.

Leclerc took his fourth consecutive Baku pole on Saturday and finally showed good value to convert it into a first win on the high-speed street circuit.

The Ferrari driver led from Piastre at the start, with Red Bull's Sergio Perez pipping the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to third.

World champion Max Verstappen mirrored his Red Bull team-mate by pipping Mercedes' Russell to fifth.

With one-stop on the expected mediums and hards, Leclerc built a comfortable six-second gap between Piastre and Perez, while Verstappen complained about his car's behavior and struggled to keep pace with Sainz in fifth.

Perez was the first driver to pit for hard tires on lap 14, but his stop did not prompt an immediate reaction from Leclerc and Piastri to avoid an undercut.

Waiting an extra lap, Piastre looked set to lose for the second time, but Perez came back behind Piastre's teammate Norris, who started 15th, and helped hold off the Mexican so Piastre could hold on to his position.

Piastre's stout in-and-out laps also reduced his deficit to Leclerc to just one second, and on lap 20 the Australian raced into the lead late inside Turn 1.

Leclerc initially told his team that he thought Piastre's pace was “crazy”, given that there were 30 laps left to run on hard tyres.

But instead of letting Piastre ride off into the sunset, Leclerc stayed with him and tried to return the favor on several occasions, each time with Piastre standing firm.

That battle allowed Perez to sit behind the pair in third, having taken less life from his hard tyres, while Sainz also finished the race following a solo finish in fourth.

With Perez failing to make an overtake on Leclerc on the final lap, Sainz looked set to take advantage and slip into third, but exiting Turn 2 the pair tangled and crashed hard into the wall.

Piastre led Leclerc and Russell home under the virtual safety car, with Norris finishing his comeback race in fourth place.

Norris started on the hard tire and was able to hold off Verstappen at first, who continued to struggle with rear-end bouncing. After finally making his 38th pitstop, Norris clawed back a 15-second deficit to move Verstappen back to fourth.

In the background Fernando Alonso made a solo run to sixth, holding off hard-tire starter Alex Albon who raced up to third in the first lap.

Rookie Franco Colapinto put in an admirable performance in his second Grand Prix outing to follow Albon in eighth place in the points.

Lewis Hamilton made a solid comeback from the pitlane starting in ninth place, after opting for overnight engine and suspension changes.

The impressive Oliver Biermann also took a first point for Haas, edging out his experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in tenth place.

RB's Yuki Tsunoda went into the lone retirement after a lap one collision with Aston's Lance Stroll, with Bum Tsunoda suffering terminal floor damage and having to walk away with a puncture.

Having taken the fastest lap, Norris' comeback race saw him move three points back to Verstappen, narrowing the gap to 59 points.