THE BIG PICTURE: With the mistakes McLaren and their drivers still make, Max Verstappen didn't even need the best car to have been a contender this year. Now, he has that not best but very good car. Hmmm...

EVENT: Baku does look like a cool city, but this event is attracting more overseas fans, including from America, because of its low travel costs and ticket availability.

TRACK: Low downforce. Cool weather. Just like Montreal this year. No wonder McLaren lost their advantage (better hot weather tire degradation) and Red Bull and Mercedes (remember, they won Montreal) had the advantage of positive tire deg.

QUALIFYING: More variables than you can count (wind, rain, crashes, oh my). It all came down to the final run where the early runners (normally a good strategy with the bizarre happenings) drying out the line for the later runners, as each subsequent car went faster.

RACE: It is interesting lately how everyone expects a crazy-ass Baku race (because, that's what used to always happen, not to mention the insane qualifying the day before), but more and more recently, the race plays out in a relative state of calmness.

START: Two words: Piastri crashes. Which came after five words: Piastri falls to the back. Which came after four words: Piastri jumps the start.

VERSTAPPEN: The track and conditions were perfect for the Red Bull. And Max took full advantage of it.

TSUNODA: Even Yuki had a great run with his best Red Bull finish.

RED BULL: $100 million dollars to pay off Christian Horner. Oof.

PIASTRI: Just goes to show even those with ice in their veins have nerves. This was a weekend Oscar wants to totally forget.

NORRIS: What an opportunity ... completely squandered. Gaining six points is even less than if Lando led a McLaren 1-2. That's got to hurt. Of course, it didn't help...

MCLAREN: ...that his team boned Lando again. That slow pit stop arguably cost him two spots and any chance of fighting for more.

RUSSELL: From a sickbed to a second place finish.

ANTONELLI: That was a mighty feisty move on your teammate.

MERCEDES: And the Silver Arrows is back in second place.

SAINZ: What a weekend. A little luck? Sure. But Carlos earned most of that podium.

ALBON: He's got to be kicking himself. The way the Williams were this weekend, he, too, could have had a podium, or at least a top five.

WILLIAMS: Celebrate away.

LAWSON: Liam has gotten a lot of flak, but he's been strong lately with an excellent performance at Baku.

FERRARI: Once again, another promising Friday resulting in a disappointing Saturday and Sunday.

BORTOLETO/BEARMAN: The rookie "B"s outdid their more experienced teammates again.

ALPINE: Just going nowhere.

FIA: There's got to be a way to safely delay red flags in qualifying. There's just too many aborted laps for cars past the incident to frustrate fans and competitors alike.

F2: Swede Dino Beganovic got the standing start jump from second spot to win a chaotic sprint race. American Jak Crawford won a thrilling feature race from pole, but it wasn't easy, losing and regaining the lead three times and then having to hold off a faster pursuer in the final four laps. Crawford lept from fourth to second in the championship and closed the gap to Italian Leonardo Fornaroli to 19 points. The series is off for two months before finishing on the final two F1 weekends.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Anti-stall.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 43 -- The consecutive race finishing streak which just came to an end for Oscar Piastri. The third longest in F1 history.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Max Verstappen got his sixth grand slam (pole, leads every lap, fastest race lap, and win). The record is held by Jim Clark at eight. And Clark only entered 76 races.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: Once again, leave it up to @BanterSteiner. Showing a picture of Piastri in the wall on the first lap:

In technical terms we call this a major fuck up.

#AzerbaijanGP #F1

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Carlos Sainz while waiting in the garage for Q3 to resume sitting on provisional pole with rain falling, to his team, "You can start dancing now to see if it rains harder."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Williams team principal James Vowles, "I can't wait to get back to the factory on Monday with the trophy and feel the roof come off the place."

SCHEDULE: Singapore has always been Red Bull's Achilles' heel. It was the only race they lost in that dominating 2023 season. So, if they have solved their Singapore problem (a track which Norris and McLaren love), then the McLaren drivers really will need to look over their shoulders.

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