McLaren’s Oscar Piastre took a career-best second win at Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix after first passing and then catching pole-sitter Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes joined Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz on the podium after a dramatic late crash.
Leclerc took his fourth straight pole on Saturday and took credit for finally turning it into a first win at the high-speed street circuit.
The Ferrari driver took the lead at the start of Piastre, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez overtaking second Ferrari Carlos Sainz for third.
World champion Max Verstappen mirrored his Red Bull team-mate by plunging the inside of Mercedes’ Russell for fifth.
With a stop in the expected media and hards, Leclerc built up a six-second gap to Piastre and Perez, while Verstappen complained about the behavior of his car and struggled to keep up with Sainz in fifth.
Perez was the first to run on the hard tires on lap 14, but his stop did not prompt an immediate reaction from Leclerc and Piastre.
Waiting an extra lap, Piastre was poised to lose second place, but Perez pulled away again behind Piastre’s teammate Norris, who had started 15th and helped the Mexican up, so Piastre held onto his position.
Piastre’s stud in and out-laps cut his deficit to Leclerc to more than a second, and on lap 20 the Australian went late inside Turn 1 to take the race lead.
Leclerc initially told his team that he thought Piastre’s pace was “crazy” with 30 laps left to run on hard tyres.
But rather than ride Piastre into the sunset, Leclerc stayed with him and tried to get back into Turn 1 on several occasions, with Piastre standing firm each time.
That battle allowed Perez to sit third behind the pair, taking little life from his stiffer tyres, while Sainz continued to finish the race in solitary fourth.
Sainz looked set to take advantage and take third as Perez failed to overtake Leclerc, but the pair tangled on the exit of Turn 2 and hit the wall hard.
Piastre led Leclerc and Russell home under the virtual safety car, while Norris finished his comeback race in fourth.
Norris started on the harder tires and was able to hold off Verstappen early on, who continued to struggle with rear-end bouncing. After finally making his lap 38 pitstop, Norris clawed back a 15-second deficit to overtake Verstappen for fourth.
At the back Fernando Alonso had a lonely race to sixth, catching hard-tire starter Alex Alban, who was third in the first stage.
Rookie Franco Colapinto put in a commendable performance to finish eighth in the points in his second Grand Prix outing at Albany.
Lewis Hamilton finished ninth from a pitlane start, after opting for overnight engine and suspension changes.
The impressive Oliver Biermann took a first point for Haas, edging out his experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg for tenth.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was the only retiree after a lap one collision with Aston’s Lance Stroll, with Tsunoda strolling away with left terminal floor damage and a puncture.
By setting the fastest lap, Norris’ comeback race saw him close three points back on Verstappen, closing the gap to 59 points.
