Max Verstappen took back-to-back wins for the first time in over a year as he led every lap from the lights to the flag in Azerbaijan, as McLaren missed their first opportunity to wrap up the Constructor’s Championship.

The papaya squad had to outscore the chasing pack by nine points to seal the crown, and at a race which they won last year that looked to be somewhat of a formality. However, a frantic qualifying featuring six red flags saw them up against it.

The last of those was brought out by championship leader Oscar Piastri as he carried far too much speed into the third 90 degree corner of the lap and ended up in the barrier and P9. His teammate and championship rival Lando Norris didn’t capitalise however, only managing a lap good enough for P7.

Max Verstappen took centre stage in the absence of McLaren and romped to a sixth pole position of the season, the most of any driver. There were others who took advantage of the opportunity too, Carlos Sainz dragged the Williams to the front row whilst Liam Lawson lined up just behind in P3.

Piastri’s uncharacteristic weekend carried on into the race too. The Aussie jumped the start, fell into anti-stall dropping all the way to the back and ended his race on lap one as he again took too much speed into a corner and found the barrier.

The door of opportunity for Norris was swung wide open then, but the Brit himself had an extremely frustrating race, staring at the back of of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull for the entire race.

He finished where he started, in seventh, meaning the gap to Piastri came down by just six points. Norris argued that “it wasn’t a missed opportunity” but the chance was certainly there to take a bigger chunk out of Piastri’s points lead.

One man who did seize the opportunity the streets provided was Carlos Sainz, who bagged a podium despite finishing behind the Mercedes of Russell. In a season of terrible misfortune for the Spaniard, the result was a just reward for not only him but for a Williams team that has come on leaps and bounds under the leadership of James Vowels.

He held off the other Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who despite being frustrated to finish behind the Williams, came home for some crucial points for the Silver Arrows to leapfrog Ferrari into second in the standings.

The Scuderia had an anonymous weekend themselves. Lewis Hamilton suffered another Q2 knockout and Leclerc couldn’t trouble the big points scorers. They even managed to mess up a switch of positions, as Hamilton crossed the line four tenths ahead of his teammate after being let through to try his luck at Norris.

Racing Bulls overtook Aston Martin in the tight midfield scrap with an immense drive from Liam Lawson. It leaves them sixth in the standings, quite a way behind the WIlliams team who have broken the 100 point barrier for the first time since 2016.

The original night race in Singapore is up next, which will be a real test as the humidity of the Marina Bay streets meets the heat of the title battle in two weeks time.