From third on the grid, Red Bulls Verstappen overtook Ferrari’s pole-sitter Chares Leclerc on the track and then benefited when Mercedes-Lewis Hamilton suffered a slow pit stop and overtook in front of him.
Perez was also ahead of Hamilton and kept second place for a Red Bull 1-2 despite a restart after a safety car following Lance Stroll’s major accident due to a blown tire on his Aston Martin.
Verstappen raced to victory with three laps to go when his left rear tire also burst, pushing him into the wall and out of the race.
The race was canceled with a red flag so that the track was cleared and all cars could change tires. From the standing start, Perez was knocked off the start line by Hamilton in the last two laps, but the seven-time world champion blocked and drove straight on at Turn 1 until he fell back to the bottom of the field.
Perez won but was told to stop his car just after the checkered flag.
Results of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Race 2021
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12 runs far from Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B when restarting the race
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
How the Azerbaijan Grand Prix developed
From pole position Leclerc led Hamilton and Verstappen, with Perez overtaking Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) on Turn 4. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr dropped to sixth after being overtaken by Perez at Turn 2 with Fernando Alonso (Alpine). Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) complete the top 10.
Hamilton drove past Leclerc at the end of lap two to take the lead and Ferrari then fell back into the DRS area of Verstappen, who overtook Leclerc at the start of lap seven. Behind them, Tsunoda overtook Alonso in seventh place.
Perez overtook Leclerc and finished third, prompting Leclerc to pit on lap 10 and switch to hard tires. Leading Hamilton stopped on lap 12 but suffered a slow 4.6 second stop as Mercedes had to wait for Gasly to come by to release him.
Verstappen came back way ahead of Hamilton after stopping on lap 13. Perez pitted a lap later, but he too had a slow 4.3 second stop and came back to second just before Hamilton. Gasly moved up to fourth place ahead of Leclerc in the pit stop cycle.
Hamilton made a serious attempt to overtake Perez after the stops, but the Red Bull stayed ahead. Vettel, meanwhile, drove a long first stint and led the first laps for the renamed Aston Martin team. The four-time world champion led to round 18 and rejoined before Tsunoda and fought against Lando Norris (McLaren) and Bottas in seventh place.
Sainz drove down Escape Road at Turn 8 after unlocking shortly after his pit stop, dropping him to 14th place. He spent the rest of the race recovering, overtaking Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and Alonso.
Stroll ran even longer in his first stint than his team-mate Vettel after he fell out of qualifying and stayed in fourth place on lap 31 when he crashed heavily on the start-finish straight due to a blowout at the rear. This resulted in a safety car, but since the pits were closed – because Stroll’s car blocked the pit entrance – this was only used to close the package and not to change the order.
Only Alonso, Giovinazzi, George Russell (Williams) and Mick Schumacher (Haas, whose left front was not correctly fitted and he had to be pushed back) came into the pits when it was opened and picked up soft tires.
Damage to Max Verstappen’s car, Red Bull Racing RB16B after retirement
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
The race restarted on lap 36, with Verstappen leading and Perez Hamilton blocking. On fresher tires, Vettel overtook Leclerc in fifth at the exit of Turn 1 and almost overtook Gasly in Turn 3. Vettel had to wait until the start / finish straight, where he stormed past Gasly and finished fourth. Meanwhile, Sainz overtook Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) in ninth place.
Verstappen made a clear move forward while Perez fended off another DRS-backed attack from Hamilton. Then, with only three laps left, Verstappen fell out of the lead when his rear left tire blew, just like Stroll’s. He got out of his wrecked car and kicked the tire.
That gave Perez the lead ahead of Hamilton, Vettel, Gasly and Leclerc when the race was then abandoned with a red flag to clear the trail of debris and let the cars switch to soft tires.
It was restarted with a standing start for the last two laps, with Hamilton jumping in front of the pole-sitter Perez, but catching up and having to use the run-off in the first corner. Perez led Vettel, Gasly and Leclerc as Norris and Alonso fought past Tsunoda. Hamilton returned in 16th.
At the start of the final lap, Leclerc overtook Gasly in third, but Gasly immediately took the place back into the corner, leaving Leclerc vulnerable to Norris.
On the flag, Perez scored his first F1 win against Vettel, Gasly, Leclerc, Norris, Alonso, Tsunoda, Sainz, Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo). Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton’s Mercedes took 12th and 16th place respectively.
Esteban Ocon (Alpine) retired after a few laps with an engine problem.
