Sergio Perez triumphed over his teammate Max Verstappen, the leader of the Formula 1 World Championship, to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, further asserting Red Bull's dominance in the season. With the help of a safety car that played in his favor after Verstappen entered the pit, the Mexican driver secured his sixth career victory, becoming the first driver to win in Baku for the second time.
Currently, Perez trails Verstappen by six points, with both drivers having two wins after four races this season. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, who started from pole in Baku for the third consecutive time, finished in a distant third place, leading his team to the podium for the first time this year, while George Russell recorded the fastest lap for Mercedes.
Perez capitalized on the safety car coming out after Verstappen's pit stop to clinch his sixth career victory, becoming the first driver to win in Azerbaijan twice. Perez stated, "Well done, guys. We completely dominated this race; I think things were close between us, and we pushed to the maximum today, hitting the wall several times."
Leclerc, who defended his position at the first corner and withstood Verstappen's attempts until the use of the movable rear wing was allowed in lap three, remarked, "For me, it was the most lonely race ever." Verstappen passed his Monaco rival at the start of the next lap and took the lead, with Perez following him into second place just two laps later.
The situation changed on lap 11 when Nyck de Vries collided with the wall, resulting in his left front suspension breaking and his car stopping on track at turn 16. Verstappen made a pit stop before the safety car was deployed, while Perez stayed on track to move into first place. The Mexican driver benefited from this when he made his pit stop and returned in front.
The Mexican also won his first sprint race of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the day before, beating Leclerc, who started from pole, with Verstappen finishing in third. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner informed Verstappen after the race, "(Perez) was lucky with the safety car coming out, but it's a long season, and we gained a lot of valuable points today; a great result for the team."
The Dutch driver responded, "That's what happened; no one knows when the safety car will come out; great result for the team." Ferrari and Aston Martin also benefited from the timing of the safety car, as Leclerc reclaimed second place when the race resumed on lap 14.
For the second time, Verstappen overtook Leclerc with ease, while Fernando Alonso took advantage of a mistake by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to snatch fourth place in turn six, which he held until the end. The true speed of Red Bull was evident as the competition was limited to the team's drivers, who pulled more than ten seconds ahead of Leclerc by the end of the first half of the race. Perez maintained an advantage of over a second over Verstappen, preventing him from activating the movable rear wing, increasing the gap to 2.5 seconds by lap 30, finishing the race 2.1 seconds ahead of his teammate.
Sainz finished in fifth place, ahead of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, while Lance Stroll placed seventh with Aston Martin.
