1. Oscar Piastri-

Oscar did what his teammate has yet to do at Azerbaijan, win a race whilst not having the fastest car. After executing a fantastic overtake on Charles Leclerc for the lead, Piastri defended for dozens of laps against a Ferrari that was fundamentally faster on the streets of Baku. He described the race as the most stressful afternoon of his life, yet proved that for some characters, extreme stress brings out the best of them.

2. Fernando Alonso-

Fernando dominated the midfield in Azerbaijan, taking advantage of the retiring cars in front of him to finish in sixth and bag eight points for the team. Whilst that Aston has been firmly in the midfield after the first few races of the year, Fernando has turned his season around recently, returning to the form that saw him dominate Lance Stroll that appeared lost earlier in the year.

3. Alexander Albon-

Whilst largely finishing ahead of his teammate due to being on a preferred strategy, Albon was still able to show fantastic pace throughout the race, even keeping cars like Verstappen’s Red Bull and Norris’ McLaren behind him on old hard tyres.

4. Franco Colapinto-

Franco Colapinto has been one of the biggest good surprises in F1 for a long time and has fully justified Williams’ decision to drop Logan Sargeant. In only his second F1 race, in the upgraded Williams, Franco has already scored four points, three more than Sargeant could manage in a year and a half.

5. Sergio Perez-

As I said in my review, it was a real shame that Sergio Perez didn’t score in Azerbaijan after a collision that was not his fault. For the first time this year, he comprehensively outperformed Max Verstappen and was on his way to a first podium since twelve races previously in China.

Tally:

1. Max Verstappen- 8
2. Charles Leclerc- 8
3. Oscar Piastri- 7
4. Yuki Tsunoda- 6
5. George Russell- 6
6. Lando Norris- 6
7. Carlos Sainz- 5
8. Alexander Albon- 5
9. Nico Hulkenberg- 4.5
10. Kevin Magnussen- 4.5
11. Lewis Hamilton- 4
12. Esteban Ocon- 3.5
13. Pierre Gasly- 3.5
14. Sergio Perez- 3
15. Fernando Alonso- 3
16. Lance Stroll- 2
17. Daniel Ricciardo- 2
18. Franco Colapinto- 2
19. Oliver Bearman- 1
20. Zhou Guanyu- 1