Red Bull have extended their lead over Ferrari with a perfect weekend in Azerbaijan, as Verstappen and Perez collected a one-two and Ferrari recorded a double retirement. The gap between the two teams is now 80 points, and Red Bull are putting themselves in an excellent position to finally win the manufacturers’ prize after so much Mercedes domination.

1. Red Bull Racing, 279. 2. Ferrari, 199. 3. Mercedes, 161. 4. McLaren, 65. 5. Alpine, 47. 6. Alfa Romeo Racing, 41. 7. Alphatauri, 27. 8. Haas F1 Team, 15. 9. Aston Martin, 15. 10. Williams, 3.

Max Verstappen has extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship, and right now his closest rival is his teammate Sergio Perez. That will change, you suspect, if Ferrari can get on top of their reliability issues because clearly Charles Leclerc has the pace in qualifying, but with only a few days until the Canadian Grand Prix gets under way, Ferrari do not have much time to get their car right. 1. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing, 150 points.

2. Sergio Perez, Mexico, Red Bull Racing, 129.

3. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 116.

4. George Russell, Great Britain, Mercedes, 99.

5. Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, Ferrari, 83.

6. Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Mercedes, 62.

7. Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren, 50.

8. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Alfa Romeo Racing, 40.

9. Esteban Ocon, France, Alpine, 31.

10. Pierre Gasly, France, Alphatauri, 16.

11. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Alpine, 16.

12. Kevin Magnussen, Denmark, Haas F1 Team, 15.

13. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, McLaren, 15.

14. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Aston Martin, 13.

15. Yuki Tsunoda, Japan, Alphatauri, 11.

16. Alexander Albon, Thailand, Williams, 3.

17. Lance Stroll, Canada, Aston Martin, 2.

18. Guanyu Zhou, China, Alfa Romeo Racing, 1.

Toyota won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the fifth year in a row on Sunday with New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley taking the chequered flag to become a triple champion.

Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi, now a four-times winner of the world’s greatest endurance race, and Japanese first timer Ryo Hirakawa shared the overall victory in the number eight GR010 hybrid hypercar.

The number seven Toyota, crewed by last year’s winners Mike Conway of Britain, Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi and Argentina’s Jose Maria Lopez, secured the predictable one-two finish at the Sarthe circuit.

Glickenhaus Racing’s number 709 car completed the podium with Britain’s Richard Westbrook, French driver Franck Mailleux and American Ryan Briscoe but they were in a different league to Toyota who had no real rivals.

Hartley won Le Mans in 2017 with Porsche and in 2020 with Toyota when he took the place of Spain’s two times Formula One world champion and double Le Mans winner Fernando Alonso.

Buemi has taken all four of his wins with the Japanese manufacturer.

“Unless I change cars I’ll never catch him,” joked the Kiwi, who secured pole position on Thursday.

Toyota were the only major manufacturer in a field of just five hypercars, a situation that will change next year when Peugeot, Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac step up and provide more competition.

Le Mans has a habit of biting back and choosing its winner, however, and reliability can never be taken for granted as the number seven crew discovered.

The two Toyotas had swapped the lead and were separated by only a few seconds for much of the first 16 hours until technical problems struck.

Lopez slowed at Arnage on lap 256 with the motor generator unit requiring a reset by the side of the track before he could return to the pits for a stop of more than three minutes in what turned out to be the defining moment of the race.

The Argentine then suffered a slow puncture, losing more time.

The number 38 Jota LMP2 car shared by Portugal’s Antonio Felix da Costa, Britain’s Will Stevens and Mexican Roberto Gonzalez were winners in the second tier.

The race, founded in 1923 and now in its 90th edition, started in sunny conditions and with the 62-strong field cheered on by a crowd of 244,200 freed from recent COVID-19 restrictions.

The drivers include 16-year-old American Josh Pierson, who became both the youngest ever competitor and finisher -- 10th overall -- with United Autosports in the second tier LMP2 category.

German-Irish Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender was also at the wheel of a Porsche 911 and had an eventful race that kept his mechanics busy.

The entire field was using a 100% renewable fuel for the first time.

Lewis Hamilton could be forced to miss next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix with back pain which left the British driver “praying” for Sunday’s race in Azerbaijan to end.

Hamilton’s Mercedes boss Toto Wolff made the alarming admission about his superstar driver moments after Sunday’s contest on the streets of Baku which was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“Yes, definitely, ” said Wolff, when asked if there is a danger Hamilton, 37, will not be able to compete in Montreal.

“He is really bad. You can see this is not muscular anymore. It goes properly into the spine and it can have some consequences.

“The solution could be to have someone on reserve, which we anyway have at every race.”

Max Verstappen spared no sympathy for Charles Leclerc after the Dutchman took advantage of a race-ending engine failure for his Ferrari Formula One rival to cruise to an unchallenged win in Azerbaijan on Sunday.

“I would say sh*t happens, that’s racing, you know?” Verstappen, who experienced the heartbreak of crashing out of the lead in Baku last year, told reporters.

“It happened to me, it happened to many people in the past and unfortunately it’s happening to Charles.

“If I would be in the same situation, I would also be disappointed, I think that’s very normal, but it’s about how you come out of it.”

Verstappen’s win on Sunday, his fifth from eight races this season, allowed him to open up a commanding lead in the overall standings.

He is now 21 points ahead of Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez, who completed a one-two behind Verstappen on Sunday, with Leclerc 34 points adrift having dropped to third.

The 24-year-old, who went into the weekend nine points behind Verstappen, has now failed to convert top spot into victory in the last four races in a row for reasons ranging from a lack of reliability to strategic missteps.

Sunday’s failure was the second time in three races that Leclerc had retired from the lead.

It came shortly after team mate Carlos Sainz had also stopped with a hydraulic failure, resulting in a double retirement for Ferrari.

Verstappen has himself been sidelined twice by reliability woes this year and trailed Leclerc by 46 points after the opening three races of the season.

“You learn from it, you don’t like it, you are angry, but you turn it around,” he said.

“You always have to stay on it because something else might happen and you have to prevent these issues from happening.”

Reuters

ALFA ROMEO (Valtteri Bottas 11, Guanyu Zhou retired)

Zhou was told to pit and retire on lap 24 with a technical issue on a bad day for engine supplier Ferrari. The Chinese has now had three retirements in his last four races. Bottas said it felt like something was fundamentally wrong with his car.

ALPHATAURI (Pierre Gasly 5, Yuki Tsunoda 13)

Gasly had a good battle with Hamilton but ultimately lost out. Tsunoda was called in by the team who patched up his rear wing with tape and sent him back out without any drag reduction system (DRS). Otherwise he might have been sixth. Both drivers pitted during the first VSC period.

HAAS (Mick Schumacher 14, Kevin Magnussen retired)

Magnussen retired with a power unit issue on lap 33 and had to park up on the track. Schumacher made two stops, on laps 10 and 24.

ASTON MARTIN (Sebastian Vettel 6, Lance Stroll 16)

Aston Martin pulled level with Haas on 15 points after taking the fourth highest tally of the day. Vettel was able to jump Hamilton thanks to a quick stop. The German might have been higher had he not gone into an escape road after passing Ocon. Stroll, who had power unit problem in Saturday qualifying, retired with the car vibrating excessively.

WILLIAMS (Alexander Albon 12, Nicholas Latifi 15)

Albon made two stops and was halted towards the end when the teams saw something in the data that caused concern. Latifi picked up an immediate penalty after overshooting his grid slot and being pushed back against the rules by a mechanic.

RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 2)

Red Bulls’s fifth win in a row, and sixth in eight races, sent them 80 points clear of Ferrari. Verstappen started third with Perez second. The Mexican led into the first corner but suffered degradation to his rear tyres and was passed by Verstappen on lap 15, with the team telling them not to fight. Perez then had a long pitstop on lap 17, dropping behind Leclerc with Verstappen in two laps later. Leclerc’s retirement left the Red Bulls one-two. Verstappen leads Perez, now second overall, by 21 points. Perez got the bonus point for fastest lap.

FERRARI (Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz retired)

Leclerc lined up on pole for the sixth time this season, and fourth in a row, but lost out to Perez when he locked up at the start. The Monegasque switched from medium to hard tyres on lap nine when the virtual safety car was deployed but it was a long one. Sainz retired on lap nine with an hydraulics issue. Leclerc then stopped on lap 21 with a power unit problem while leading. Leclerc is now 34 points behind Verstappen.

MERCEDES (George Russell 3, Lewis Hamilton 4)

Russell took his third podium of the season. Both drivers pitted during the lap nine virtual safety car (VSC) and benefited from the retirement of the two Ferraris. A second VSC period and stop helped Hamilton pass Tsunoda and Gasly. Both suffered from excessive bouncing, with Hamilton in back pain as he stepped out of the car. Russell remains the only driver to have finished in the top five in every race.

MCLAREN (Daniel Ricciardo 8, Lando Norris 9)

Ricciardo started 12th and finished ahead of Norris on track for only the second time this season. The drivers were on different strategies and team orders were applied twice with the Australian quicker in the opening stint on the hard tyre but told to stay behind. Norris was faster later on but frustrated to be told to hold station behind Ricciardo, who had pitted during the second VSC.

ALPINE (Fernando Alonso 7, Esteban Ocon 10)

The Renault-owned team took back fifth place from Alfa Romeo. Alonso started 10th, Ocon 13th. The car performed well on the straights and the drivers benefited from Ferrari’s retirements. Alonso pitted for hards on lap 18 having stayed out during the VSC period. Ocon made his stop on lap 33.

A wounded Charles Leclerc has demanded Ferrari eliminate their reliability woes to prevent this season’s Formula One battle from becoming a one-horse race.

Max Verstappen extended his championship lead by driving unopposed to victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz failed to finish on a desperate afternoon for Ferrari in Baku.

Leclerc was bidding to avenge Ferrari’s flat-footed strategy in Monaco a fortnight ago which cost him victory at his home event.

But on lap 20 of 51, Leclerc’s engine expired and he retired from the lead. A power unit failure at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya last month means the Monegasque has now failed to finish in two of his last three appearances.

Leclerc led Verstappen by as many as 47 points after the third round in Australia – the scene of his last triumph – on April 10.

But, ahead of next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – the ninth race of 22 this season – Leclerc trails the Dutchman by 34 points in the championship standings.

Talking to Hamilton over team radio, Wolff said: “This is a bit of a s***tbox to drive. And sorry for the back problems.”

Hamilton later told the media he was “praying” for the race to be over, such was the pain in his back. “The only thing was biting down my teeth with pain and just adrenaline. I cannot express the pain you experience, especially on the straight here. In the end you are just praying for it to end. We are in such a good position still in 3rd and 4th. It is a great result and the team did well with the strategy. Once we fix this bouncing we will be right in the race because we are losing for sure a second just with bouncing.”

Wolff told the media Hamilton is a doubt for Canada, saying: “You can see that it is not muscular, it goes properly deep into the spine and there are some consequences. The solution could be to have someone on reserve, which we do at any race.”

Lewis Hamilton is a doubt for the Canadian Grand Prix after injuring his back in Baku on Sunday. Hamilton finished fourth behind race winner Max Verstappen, fellow Red Bill driver Sergio Perez and Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell, but suffered back pain as his car bounced around the Azerbaijan street circuit, a result of F1’s troublesome ‘porpoising’ phenomenon this season. Asked if Hamilton’s was now a doubt for Canada, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told reporters: “Yeah, definitely.”