© Getty ImagesBaku Race ReviewWe’re Baku to what we do best.
Andthat’sscoringdoublepoints,babyyyyyy!
Round 17 took us to Azerbaijan and the city streets of Baku. But what did the FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2025 have in store for Isack and Liam? Well, I may have given it away already, but let’s break it down and go back to the beginning of the week.
We kicked off proceedings with the Creator Platform poster reveal, courtesy of @crispydesignstudio. Crispy design, indeed.
We think the best way to summarise media day is with the Baku Three Cs: Cats, Caps and Cans.
Once we hit the circuit, it was full steam ahead. Baku is a super unforgiving track, with its 20 turns weaving through the city streets and leaving little margin for error. So how did our lads do?
On Friday, Liam and Isack were immediately up at the sharp end, setting lap times just over one second off the leading car of Lando Norris in FP1 and getting to within a second of Lewis Hamilton in FP2. Here’s Liam PAWson’s debrief from a pretty purrrrfect start to the weekend.
Someone must have slipped and turned the drama dial up to 11 on Saturday, because Qualifying was a bit bonkers to say the least. We had a record number of red flags, six to be precise, and the threat of rain loomed over the entire ONE HOUR FORTY FIVE MINUTE session. Yeah, Qualifying lasted longer than the race…
So what happened? Well, it’s only another double Q3 for VCARB, isn’t it?! Isack stuck his car into P8. But Liam?! Liam set a stonking lap and qualified P3. PEEEETHREEEE. That magic 8-ball at the start of the weekend knew what it was talking about. A cracking Saturday for the VCARB 02 and huge props to the whole team for building two rocketships.
Naturally, that brings us on to race day.
Before you had a chance to say, ‘Visa Cash App Racing Bulls are racing in Azerbaijan’, we were off. Medium tyres for both drivers to start with, with Isack making good use of them and gaining a position on Norris on the first lap. There was a brief safety car until lap four, and then the Isack defensive masterclass was underway. Hot on his tail were both Ferraris and Norris’ McLaren, but Isack wasn’t making life easy for them.
Up ahead, Liam was running comfortably in P3, keeping the two Mercedes at bay. Liam pitted ahead of Kimi Antonelli to pull off an undercut and maintain his position, swapping for the white-banded hard tyre. He held the position until lap 22, when Antonelli swapped to fresh rubber.
Quick Stop Team© Getty Images
After everybody had served their pit stops, here’s how things were looking: Liam was P5 and defending against Yuki Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton. Isack was in P10, chasing down Leclerc to join the back of Liam’s DRS train.
Both held on to their positions until the chequered flag: P5 for Liam (+10 Championship points) and P10 for Isack (+1 Championship point). That’s Liam’s best-ever finish in Formula One and another round of double points for the team! BOSH. All in a day’s work. These kinds of results mean the world to the team, as you can see.
Here’s what Liam and Isack had to say about a very positive Azerbaijan Grand Prix:
”We’ve had a good car all weekend thanks to the team, so I’m pleased to be coming home with the points. We gave it everything!”
Liam Lawson “I’m really happy for the team with a double points finish. I’m looking forward to Singapore and feel confident that we can do well there.”
Isack Hadjar And Alan Permane said: “The race finishes off a great weekend for us here in Baku, which was strong for both our drivers. It was always going to be difficult to keep the quicker cars behind, but we finished with both cars in the points, putting us back to P6 in the Championship.”
Look, I know what you’re thinking. “VCARB admin, when can we get our next fix of LISACK?”. Fear not, because we’re back in just two weeks! Join us from 3-5 October for Round 18: The FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2025.
VCARB signing off from Baku x
