1. Charles Leclerc-

Leclerc had another fantastic win in Texas, taking the lead perfectly at the start of the race and then never coming under threat afterwards. More races need to go this way.

2. Carlos Sainz-

Carlos also had a great United States Grand Prix, at times showing greater pace than eventual race winner Leclerc. Whilst the start did not go quite how he wanted, Sainz still used the natural pace of the Ferrari to finish in second, his best result since his win in Australia at the beginning of the year.

3. Nico Hulkenberg-

Whilst not maximizing qualifying like his teammate, Nico made up for that with a brilliant race to finish at the head of the midfield. Solid results in both the race and the main sprint have pushed Haas up to sixth in the championship, as they have firmly established themselves this year as a team that needs to be taken seriously.

4. Liam Lawson-

On his return to F1, Liam delivered a fantastic performance, running the alternative hard-to-medium strategy to climb from the back of the grid into the points. Most impressive was when he was faster on old hard tyres than his teammate Yuki Tsunoda (who has been in the car all year) was on his new hard tyres. If Liam wants to make the argument that he should be promoted to Red Bull next year, he’s started well.

5. Franco Colapinto-

Franco Colapinto had yet another fantastic race, to score another point for Williams. Like Lawson, he utilized the hard-to-medium strategy, which he had recommended to the team himself. It proved a wise choice and allowed for Franco to drag his car into the points. Franco is really making the case for a full-time F1 career, he is showing tremendous potential.

Tally:

1. Max Verstappen- 9
2. Charles Leclerc- 9
3. Oscar Piastri- 7
4. Lando Norris- 7
5. Nico Hulkenberg- 6.5
6. Yuki Tsunoda- 6
7. George Russell- 6
8. Carlos Sainz- 6
9. Alexander Albon- 5
10. Kevin Magnussen- 4.5
11. Lewis Hamilton- 4
12. Fernando Alonso- 4
13. Franco Colapinto- 4
14. Esteban Ocon- 3.5
15. Pierre Gasly- 3.5
16. Sergio Perez- 3
17. Lance Stroll- 2
18. Daniel Ricciardo- 2
19. Oliver Bearman- 1
20. Zhou Guanyu- 1
21. Liam Lawson- 1

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

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was another thriller. Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez all fought valiantly for the win, with the three cars seldom separated by more than a second. Whilst the Australian crossed the line in first, all three drivers had a genuine shot at victory if the race had played out slightly differently. And for one of the drivers, not getting into the race lead kickstarted a chain of events that led to his retirement. And in all this, Verstappen was nowhere, being thoroughly outclassed by his teammate for the first time in forever.

On Saturday during qualifying, Charles Leclerc was mighty. He kept his foot on the throttle in corners where every other driver lifted and snatched pole by over three tenths of a second, a mighty gap when the top teams are so close. And Charles initially looked to have the race in the bag during the first stint, as he briskly pulled a six second gap to Oscar Piastri in second. In the first stint of the race, I was incredibly excited to see Charles take a dominant win and thought the fight for second would prove more dramatic than the fight for fist. The aforementioned fight for second was ignited on lap thirteen, as Red Bull brought in Sergio Perez in an attempt to undercut Piastri.

Whilst the undercut was powerful in Baku McLaren were able to efficiently play the team game to survive. After pitting, Perez found himself behind Lando Norris, who was running a long stint on the hard tyres after starting the race in fifteenth. At this point, McLaren requested that Lando slow down Perez in the tight and twisty middle sector, where it is impossible to overtake. Lando responded to this request and held Perez up, which when combined with Piastri’s pit stop being about half a second faster than Perez’s, meant that when Piastri came out of his pit box two laps after Perez, he retained second place. Given the subsequent events of the race and Red Bull’s superior top speed, it appears likely that if Perez had got past Piastri, he would have won the race. Whilst it was not to be for Perez on this occasion, it is worth praising his performance in Baku. Sergio has come under rightful criticism during his time at Red Bull for being consistently slower than Max and came very close earlier this season to being fired. Yet, in recent races he has begun to turn his season around, showing that there are circumstances where he can deliver a solid performance. Perez may have saved his seat for next season last weekend, an achievement I would make no effort to downplay.

After Leclerc pitted, his Ferrari proved to have issues with warming up the hard tyres. Whilst these issues were minor and the Ferrari still appeared to be the fastest car in the race, Oscar Piastri snatched his opportunity to take the lead, catching Leclerc napping to make a fantastic overtake on the inside of turn one. For the rest of the race, Leclerc harangued Oscar, but Piastri defended his lead perfectly, ensuring that Charles would never get the chance to take the inside line where it is easier to overtake. For both his overtaking and defending, Piastri deserves plaudits. He delivered an Oscar-worthy performance last weekend and has established himself as a top F1 driver. Oscar Piastri thoroughly deserved that win, even if I wish Leclerc had won it.

Whilst Charles tried his best to get past Piastri, the extent of time he spent pushing in dirty air had only one inevitable consequence. Thus, near the end of the race, Charles’ tyres began to fall off a cliff. Sergio Perez attempted to take advantage of this and looked to have a solid overtake lined up, but Charles was incredibly late to brake to ensure that Perez wouldn’t get past. This put Perez out of shape, allowing him to be overtaken by the fast-charging Carlos Sainz, who had slowly dragged his way into the battle for the podium places. Yet, as Perez attempted to come back on Sainz after turn two, Sainz failed to take of note of Perez and took the normal racing line. He promptly crashed into the side of Perez, taking them both out of the race and promoting George Russell into third. As Sainz made no erratic movements, the stewards deemed it to be a racing incident and did not penalize Carlos. Yet, even so, it showed an incredible lack of awareness by Carlos. Additionally, it made me feel awful for Sergio Perez. After his best weekend of the year, he had it all taken away from him on the penultimate lap. It was a real shame to see, and I really hope Sergio can bounce back in Singapore, another track that he has won at before.

In conclusion, it was another great race. The person I wanted to win didn’t and I felt so sorry for Sergio Perez, but still, it was full of great moments. A three-way fight for the win; Verstappen’s pace being non-existent; Norris charging from fifteenth to fourth; a double Williams points haul and even a lovely little tenth for Ollie Bearman. In reflection, a lot of good did happen in this race.

Wow. Silverstone really delivered an all-time classic. It’s always one of the best races of the year, but along with Canada, this race may go down as one of the best of the decade. We witnessed a fantastic battle for the win, involving five drivers and three teams. Many drivers looked like they had the opportunity, but it was Lewis Hamilton to take the checkered flag first. Whilst ending a two-and-a-half-year win drought with a home win in front of adoring fans was a great story to witness, a great story does not always translate into a great race. Yet, the race was worthy of the story it accompanied, as constantly changing climatic conditions ensured that fun and unpredictability was aplenty.

Saturday’s qualifying proved that the Mercedes thrives in colder conditions, as the team took a dominant 1-2. This was converted at the beginning of the race, as both Mercedes opened a gap to Verstappen in third. The McLaren also proved a stronger car than the Red Bull, with both McLarens using superior tyre wear to overtake Verstappen during the opening stint. But it was in the rain that the McLaren showed its true strength. In slippery conditions, the McLaren was by far the best car, with Norris and Piastri quickly overtaking both Mercedes to establish a McLaren 1-2. It was at this point that McLaren had an opportunity to take an emphatic victory. But as they have shown over this year, McLaren are experts in bottling wins.

The first mistake McLaren made came when it was time to switch to the intermediate tyres. Whilst Mercedes made the right call to bring both of their cars in on the same lap, McLaren decided to leave Oscar Piastri out for an extra lap, to avoid him being held up in the pit box behind Lando. This was an awful decision, as Piastri lost close to a whole pit stop in the subsequent lap. This destroyed Piastri’s chance of winning the race, something heavily disappointing for a driver who had appeared to be the fastest on track. Still, McLaren had Norris in the lead during the wet section of the race, who still had a great chance of winning. Though McLaren still had other ideas.

When Hamilton made the jump onto the dry tyres first, McLaren were slightly compromised. They had been effectively undercut and were guaranteed to come out of the pit lane behind Lewis. However, the team had an advantage available to them, an extra set of medium tyres. Whilst Hamilton only had softs, the mediums were evidently the best tyres for the final stint. All McLaren needed to do was pit Norris onto mediums, like they did with Piastri, and they would have won the race. They didn’t. They instead, asked Norris if he wanted to cover Hamilton with softs or Verstappen with mediums. As he had limited information and Hamilton was ahead of him, Norris chose the soft tyres. However, it should never have been his choice. Everyone knew that having a set of mediums was an advantage, including the commentators, though seemingly excluding McLaren. Thus, Norris went onto awful tyres that he couldn’t manage and instead of taking a dominant win, he fell behind Verstappen and finished third. The Norris title campaign has proven to be a joke, though one that is at least fun to watch.

The rest of the final stint consisted of Hamilton managing his soft tyres perfectly. Whilst Verstappen had superior pace, Hamilton stopped him from catching and took an amazing victory. The emotions ran high after the race, with Hamilton crying during the interview. It was amazing to watch, he had driven perfectly all weekend and deserved it. Whilst the primary reason for his victory was because McLaren’s strategy was awful, it was nevertheless amazing to watch. Unpredictable races where multiple teams fight for the win are the best type that Formula One has to offer and I hope we see more of them during the year.