Baku once again delivered theatre with a weekend of racing as entertaining as it was unpredictable.
Qualifying descended into a mess of red flags and disrupted laps, leaving the grid jumbled and strategy wide open.
By Sunday, survival was as important as outright pace. Max Verstappen rose above the mayhem, claiming victory and reinforcing his legend. Can he do the impossible and win the title this year?
Behind him, George Russell, despite feeling unwell throughout the weekend, fought his way to second in a display of resilience. However, there was a bigger story further back as Carlos Sainz secured a first podium of the season for Williams. It was a reminder of his class and a huge moment for the team in blue.
As for McLaren, they were nowhere to be found despite recent highs as the city circuit once again reminded the paddock that nothing in Baku comes easy.
Can Verstappen challenge for the title?
Verstappen delivered a masterclass in control at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and it started with a decision that went against his own team. In a qualifying session littered with red flags and stoppages, Verstappen pushed to use soft tyres rather than the mediums Red Bull had planned. It proved decisive, handing him pole on a circuit where track position is everything.
On Sunday, he proved untouchable. Verstappen led all 51 laps, set the fastest lap and secured his sixth career Grand Slam, drawing level with Lewis Hamilton and moving only two behind Jim Clark’s all-time record of eight.
He crossed the line with a winning margin of 14.609 seconds over Russell, taking his second victory in Baku, his fourth of the season and the 67th of his F1 career. “This weekend has been incredible for us,” Verstappen said afterwards. “The car was working beautifully.”
Much of his and Red Bull’s resurgence is down to the team’s upgrades. A new floor, introduced in Monza, has restored balance and efficiency, giving Verstappen the desired control he had been missing for much of the year. The change in culture has been equally important. With new team principal Laurent Mekies bringing an engineering background to his leadership, Verstappen feels his input is shaping the car more than ever. The Dutchman described the last two weekends as “amazing” pointing to a car that finally responds to his demands.
Whether it will be enough to change the championship picture remains to be seen. Verstappen is still 69 points adrift of Oscar Piastri with seven races left. “It’s a lot,” he admitted. “I would need to be perfect on my side and have a lot of luck too.”
Baku proved he is always capable of brilliance and perhaps even a miracle come the end of the season.
Sainz delivers podium finish for Williams
“Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am or how good this feels,” said a beaming Sainz in Baku after claiming his first podium for Williams, a third-place finish that ended his barren run of six races without points and delivered the team’s first podium since Russell at Spa in 2021 and their first under team principal James Vowles.
For a driver who had struggled, managing only 16 points across the entire season, the turnaround was everything he had been hoping for. Sainz produced one of his most accomplished displays in qualifying, piecing together a lap of real precision that briefly placed him on provisional pole before Verstappen’s late effort denied him.
On Sunday, he kept his composure. Opting for mediums in the opening stint, Sainz held his place at the front and made his sole stop on lap 28 to switch to hards. The strategy kept him in the mix, but Russell, running an alternate plan, jumped ahead for second. Sainz then fended off Kimi Antonelli to secure third and with it 15 points, almost doubling his season tally in a single afternoon.
“We’ve been fighting hard all year,” he said after the race. “Finally today we proved that when everything comes together, we can do amazing things."
McLaren suffer a rare poor weekend
McLaren’s Azerbaijan weekend began in chaotic fashion. Saturday’s sessions broke the record for the most red flags ever seen in a Formula 1 qualifying, and both drivers were troubled by the conditions.
“I just carried too much speed into the apex at Turn 3,” said Piastri afterwards. “It was my mistake, and I paid for it.” It was the Australian’s worst qualifying performance of the season.
Lando Norris fared little better. Unable to put together a clean lap, he could not manage anything better than seventh. “It was a messy session,” he reflected. “The interruptions made it impossible to find a rhythm.”
Sunday brought no respite. Piastri, over-eager off the line, locked up and hit the barriers at Turn 5 on the first lap, ending his race and the run of consistent finishes. For a driver praised for equanimity, it was surprising to see. “I was too keen at the start and paid the price,” he conceded, visibly frustrated.
With Piastri out, Norris was tasked with carrying the team’s hopes. He made a solid start to the race, holding position, but his race quickly became one of managing circumstances rather than attacking.
A slow pit stop blunted his strategy, and even when given clear air he lacked the pace to challenge the front-runners. He crossed in seventh. As McLaren’s rivals level up, will we witness more difficult weekends ahead?
Russell continues to provide consistency
Russell produced one of the grittiest drives of his career in Baku, fighting through illness to take second place and deliver Mercedes’ first podium since Hungary. It was also his seventh podium finish of the season.
The British driver had missed Thursday’s media day and was excused from most duties on Friday and Saturday as he struggled with sickness. Even on race morning, it was uncertain whether he would be fit enough to compete. “I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag,” Russell admitted. “Fortunately, I felt much better today than I did on Friday and Saturday, so I’m looking forward to a bit of rest now.”
Starting fifth on the grid, Russell dispatched Liam Lawson early before Mercedes extended his first stint. The strategy paid off: he emerged from the pit lane ahead of Sainz and Antonelli, sealing second place behind Verstappen. “It was a really strong race, mainly just staying out of trouble,” he reflected. “I don’t think we did anything spectacular; it’s just a lot of people made mistakes this weekend."
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
MATCH INFO
Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE%20v%20West%20Indies
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE%20SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%203-litre%20V6%20turbo%20(standard%20model%2C%20E-hybrid)%3B%204-litre%20V8%20biturbo%20(S)%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20350hp%20(standard)%3B%20463hp%20(E-hybrid)%3B%20467hp%20(S)%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20500Nm%20(standard)%3B%20650Nm%20(E-hybrid)%3B%20600Nm%20(S)%0D%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh368%2C500%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars
- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes
- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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