Baku, June 6

Mexican Sergio Perez won a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Red Bull today after a tyre blowout denied championship-leading teammate Max Verstappen certain victory and Lewis Hamilton failed to score.

The race was red-flagged when Verstappen crashed five laps from the end, the Dutch driver clambering out of the wrecked car and kicking the rear left tyre in fury with his hopes in tatters.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen kicks his car after crashing out. REUTERS

Baku’s street circuit then provided another crazy twist at the standing re-start when Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Hamilton lined up second, with two laps remaining, and looked set to take back the overall lead.

Instead the Briton got it all wrong — his prospective points haul disappearing as he locked up and ran down the escape road in the sprint to the first corner. He finished 15th. Second place dropped instead into the lap of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, a first podium finish for Aston Martin, with Frenchman Pierre Gasly taking third for Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri.

The bonus point for fastest lap was not awarded because Verstappen, who set it, did not finish. — Reuters