Azerbaijan 2021: Perez inherits victory after Verstappen crash

Sergio Perez won the Azerbaijan GP, which was interrupted by two serious accidents - both apparently caused by tire blowouts.

The race was restarted for a two-lap sprint after a long stoppage due to leader Max Verstappen crashing because of a blown tire.

Perez re-started from pole position with Lewis Hamilton alongside him. The Mercedes driver got off to a better start, but he missed the braking point at the first corner, went straight through and into the escape area, taking the checkered flag in 16th.

With Hamilton behind, Sebastian Vettel took second place for Aston Martin. Pierre Gasly won an exciting duel with Charles Leclerc for the last step on the podium on the last lap.

Behind them, Lando Norris recovered from a bad start to finish fifth. Fernando Alonso passed Yuki Tsunoda for sixth place. Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, and Kimi Raikkonen - scoring his first point of the year - rounded out the top 10.

Pole-holder Leclerc maintained his lead at the start when the race began more than two hours before the final restart. Hamilton and Verstappen also remained second and third, while Perez moved up to fourth.

Hamilton knocked Leclerc off the lead early on lap three, but did not open up an advantage over the Red Bull duo, who had also overtaken Ferrari and placed themselves behind the Briton.

The seven-time champion was the first of the three to stop, but lost time when Gasly came in on the same lap. With that, Verstappen quietly took over the top spot after his smooth pit-stop on the next pass.

Despite a slightly slower stop, Perez also returned ahead of Hamilton, taking second behind his teammate.

While almost all the drivers made their pit-stops in the first half of the race, Lance Stroll continued with his original set of hard tires. However, on the 31st lap, his left rear failed unexpectedly and threw him violently into the wall. Stroll emerged unscathed and the safety car neutralized the race.

The leaders did not stop during the stoppage and Verstappen held the lead at the restart. He was five laps from victory when he suffered a similar failure to Stroll on the main straight, hitting the outside wall.

Disconsolate, the Dutchman kicked his left rear tire after exiting the car, but Hamilton's subsequent mistake, squandering the opportunity to regain the championship lead, may have improved his mood.

Race standings: