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Image source, Getty Images
Oscar Piastri dropped to the back of the field before crashing out on the first lap
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.
The main stories of the race were:
Piastri retaining a relatively comfortable lead despite an error-strewn grand prix and weekend
Verstappen's performance lending further credence to the sense of a Red Bull revival
Outstanding performance from Sainz rewarding Williams' strong season
What's next?
It's the original Formula 1 night race in two weeks with the Singapore Grand Prix on the streets of Marina Bay, from 3-5 October.
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