McLaren’s Lando Norris reduced team-mate Oscar Piastri’s championship lead to 25 points by finishing seventh in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after the Australian crashed out on the first lap.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took a dominant victory to underline McLaren’s fears that he could become a title contender – even if he is still 69 points behind Piastri with seven races to go.
But Piastri’s first big mistake of the season was not as costly as it could have been, because main rival Norris was unable to make any ground from his seventh position on the grid.
Norris became stuck behind other cars and could gain just six points on Piastri.
McLaren tried an offset strategy with a late pit stop in the attempt to give Norris a tyre advantage in the closing laps.
But Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson held off Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, Norris and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, all running nose to tail for the final 10 laps, none able to make progress.
Mercedes’ George Russell drove an excellent race, on the same strategy as Verstappen, to move up from fifth to second, while Carlos Sainz hung on in third after starting second for Williams’ first podium since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix.
McLaren came into the weekend on the verge of clinching the constructors’ title, but they will have to wait at least another race after a difficult weekend in Baku.
Piastri, 31 points clear in the drivers’ championship heading into the weekend, crashed out of both qualifying and race in an uncharacteristically scrappy weekend.
The Australian’s grand prix unravelled even before the lights went out as he jumped the start and had to stop again before getting under way.
That dropped him to the back of the field into the first corner and his race came to an end just five corners later.
He tried to go for an ambitious move around the outside of Esteban Ocon’s Haas, but found no grip and slid straight on into the barrier.
Norris should have been able to capitalise, but the Briton himself lost a place on the first lap to Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, the start of a frustrating race.
Norris soon passed the Frenchman, but he spent the first part of the race stuck behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
McLaren extended his first stint, leaving his pit stop as late as possible, in an attempt to give him a tyre offset on those ahead.
But a problem with the right-front wheel gun cost him two seconds, giving him a second slow pit stop in a row after the dramas of Monza.
That cost him what was anyway a slim hope of jumping ahead of Lawson and Tsunoda, and he rejoined the race two seconds behind them.
He closed up quickly on to the back of the Red Bull, but Tsunoda was unable to pass Lawson despite his fresher tyres. The New Zealander drove an outstanding defensive race, holding faster cars at bay throughout after his strong qualifying session put him third on the grid. So Norris became stuck in a DRS train and could not pass Tsunoda.