Verstappen claws back to Baku second as Hadjar yields under team orders

Verstappen's grid-to-podium recovery

Max Verstappen's drive to second place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku began from an uncharacteristically lowly eighth on the starting grid. The Dutchman felt he should have been far higher after Qualifying, only for engine problems and yellow flags to leave him stranded in the lower reaches of Q3.

From there, his recovery was typically excellent. Verstappen carved his way forward through the field, and it was only as he moved into third place — past team-mate Isack Hadjar — that he realised he had a problem of his own to manage.

The team orders call

Verstappen was quicker than Hadjar on Lap 7, and the team enforced orders to have the two swap positions. The move handed the four-time world champion a clear track ahead of him and a realistic shot at the leaders.

Having easily passed Lando Norris a few laps earlier, Verstappen then set about trying to get through Oscar Piastri to mount a challenge to race leader George Russell. With the pace advantage he believed he should have shown in Qualifying, catching Russell looked like a formality.

Russell holds on

In the end, Russell beat Verstappen to the Baku win by a tenth, but the Dutchman's recovery to second — boosted by Hadjar's compliance under team orders — underlined the speed he had been denied in qualifying. For Hadjar, the weekend still brought a 'first proper podium' with third place.