Lewis Hamilton claimed a crucial win in his bid to clinch the Formula One championship with a magnificent performance at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Verstappen had extended his lead in the title race on Saturday when he finished second behind Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the sprint qualifying race.
Hamilton had his Friday qualifying session result ruled out due to a DRS infringement, meaning he started the sprint race in last, but went from 20th to fifth, only for a five-place grid penalty to mean he started 10th on Sunday.
Yet the reigning world champion delivered a memorable win, gaining eight places within the early exchanges before, at the third attempt, he overtook Verstappen with 12 laps remaining.
Verstappen and Sergio Perez had nipped ahead to make it a Red Bull one-two early on, with Bottas unable to keep control of the race, but Hamilton ensured it was Mercedes' weekend.
The safety car was deployed early on, with Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll colliding, while Lando Norris sustained a puncture on the first lap and was forced to pit immediately.
Hamilton had made a brilliant start, however, and his charge up the track saw him catch leader Verstappen on the 48th lap.
Verstappen did not open up space at turn four, forcing Hamilton wide, with both cars going off the track before straightening up with the Red Bull retaining its lead.
To Mercedes' frustration, the incident was noted by stewards, but not investigated. Hamilton tried again 10 laps later, yet again found his path blocked by Verstappen, who weaved on the straight.
It only delayed the inevitable, however, as Hamilton made it third time lucky when he finally got beyond his title rival ahead of turn four on lap 59.
Verstappen's frustration was compounded by a penalty for his weaving a lap previous, though Perez did at least collect the fastest lap to take a point away from Hamilton, with Bottas rounding off the podium.
DID VERSTAPPEN GET LUCKY?
It was an almighty tussle between the title rivals on turn four at lap 48, with Verstappen just managing to hold onto his advantage.
Hamilton, who labelled the incident "crazy", was sure there had been an infringement, but with it unclear as to whether Verstappen had driven his counterpart off the track, the FIA decided not to investigate, much to Mercedes' chagrin.
HISTORY FOR HAMILTON
Hamilton has now won 17 races in the Americas (seven in Canada, six in the United States, two in Brazil and two in Mexico).
It means he overtakes the legendary Michael Schumacher as the driver with the most F1 victories across the four nations.
Leclerc fastest in FP2 as Norris plays down chances of success in Baku
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was cautious about his chances of winning two Formula 1 races in succession for the first time in his career despite going fastest in the second practice of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Leclerc recovered from a crash in the morning to set the pace in the afternoon, 0.006 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez and 0.066 seconds in front of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
Championship leader Max Verstappen finished fifth, while his challenger Lando Norris struggled and languished in 17th after the second classification in Baku.
Despite going quickest, Leclerc admitted there were issues with his Ferrari car, leaving work to do if he wants to get pole position in Azerbaijan for a fourth successive year.
He said: "The thing is that when we started FP2 there was an actual problem on the car that we saw later on, once I stopped, and we changed that particular part.
"It's one of the tracks that I quite like, and we've been pretty quick in the past, but that doesn't mean it will be the case for tomorrow.
"I mean, the crash, there's not much to go into. I braked a little bit too much on the right, the track was still dirty, I locked up, and it was too late to go to the right [run-off] – so I went into the wall."
Norris endured a far more difficult afternoon, only mustering 17th after coming across Alpine's Pierre Gasly in the final sector when attempting his fastest lap.
The Brit cannot afford many slip-ups from now until the end of the season, as he looks to overhaul Verstappen's 62-point lead with eight races remaining, but was downbeat about McLaren's chances this weekend, believing they were lagging behind their competitive rivals.
"We're quite a long way off," Norris said.
"I’m having to push way too much to try and get a lap time out of it.
"Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, they're all very similar. And then there's a good 0.3 to 0.4 second gap back to us, so a lot of work to do.
"Ferrari are very quick here. Mercedes will be quick with these track conditions. It's very slidey out there."
Perez says media lack understanding of Red Bull issues
Sergio Perez accused the media of lacking understanding regarding Red Bull's recent issues, as the team rediscovered their pace in Friday's first practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Red Bull looked set to dominate Formula One again after making a flying start to 2024, but McLaren have made it a fight for the constructors' championship crown.
Max Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races of the season but has since failed to record a victory in six outings, while Perez has gone 11 races without a podium finish after achieving four in the first five races of the year.
Red Bull rediscovered their pace at first practice in Baku on Friday, though, with Verstappen finishing fastest ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Perez following in third.
Speaking ahead of that session, Perez acknowledged he had suffered more than Verstappen from difficulties with the team's RB20 car, but said many onlookers lacked understanding.
"I've had them probably for the last 15 months, with the car development, the direction, the trajectory we've been taking," Perez said of his issues.
"I think it's a thing with the style of Max. The good thing is he was less sensitive to the issues we had, just by his nature.
"Some people don't understand it, especially from the media side, that different driver styles can come to different conclusions.
"Ten, 12 races ago, I was complaining about these issues, but now they are so big that even Max is feeling them. I think the solution will benefit me even more with my style.
"It's very clear in the data, the team is fully aware of it and hopefully we can fix the issues soon going forwards. Then we can unlock a lot of performance from the car."
Friday's opening session at the Baku street circuit – where Perez is the only driver with multiple victories – saw Verstappen set a leading time of 1:45:546 on his last lap.
A chaotic session saw three red flags waved, with Charles Leclerc causing one of them when he hit a wall at Turn 15.
Williams rookie Franco Colapinto also hit a barrier less than 10 minutes after the session resumed, with the running also being paused to allow the removal of debris from a dusty surface.
McLaren's Lando Norris had the fourth-fastest time, with Carlos Sainz in fifth and Oscar Piastri sixth, ahead of Fernando Alonso and George Russell.
Miedema and Shaw: Have Man City built an unstoppable partnership?
Manchester City go into the new Women’s Super League season having made what could be the acquisition of the summer, and they haven’t even had to spend a penny to get their player.
Vivianne Miedema appeared 172 times in all competitions for Arsenal, netting a staggering 125 goals and providing 50 assists.
The Netherlands international set the WSL alight in her seven years with the Gunners and holds the all-time record for the most goals in the competition, with 80.
Since joining from Bayern Munich in 2017 there has been no stopping her and, as she begins her new chapter with City, she will have the opportunity to form what could be one of the greatest partnerships the WSL has witnessed.
The Citizens thought last season might have been their year to finally clinch their first WSL title since 2016, only to lose it on the final day on goal difference as Chelsea provided Emma Hayes with a triumphant send-off.
Gareth Taylor has a potentially devastating attacking lineup on his hands as City look to go one better in 2024-25.
With record breakers Khadija “Bunny” Shaw and Miedema paired together, he may have found the piece of the puzzle they have been missing.
A record-breaking rise
Shaw has also been a WSL revelation since joining Man City in 2021, surpassing all expectations with her meteoric rise to becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer with 72 goals.
Shaw has scored a remarkable 50 goals in just 57 WSL appearances, netting once every 81 minutes on average. The Jamaica star is a ruthless finisher, outperforming her expected goals (xG) figures by almost 15 goals during her time in the WSL while already tallying 242 shots (4.2 per match), 104 on target (1.8 per game).
Shaw’s 20.66% shot conversion rate is better than Bethany England (19.79%) and some way clear of Miedema (17.7%), although Chelsea star Sam Kerr (21.48%) boasts a better rate.
She has put away 32 of the 63 big chances that have fallen her way, so her goal tally could arguably have been even more impressive.
Clinching the Golden Boot last season, she scored 21 goals in just 18 WSL appearances. Consequently, the Jamaica international was named PFA Player of the Year and Football Writers' Player of the Year for 2024-25.
But the personal accolades will only mean so much if City cannot deliver that long-awaited league title.
Shaw outperformed her figure of 12.3 xG by 8.7 last season – she had the second-highest xG in the WSL, behind only Alessia Russo (12.4). The City attacker also had the second-most shots (78), again only trailing Russo (79), but she led the league for shots on target (37).
Shaw led the WSL for big chances, with 25, putting away 11, while only Lauren Hemp and Caitlin Foord had more touches in the opposition box (159 and 160 respectively compared to Shaw’s 153).
Most impressively of all, Shaw averaged a goal every 66 minutes in the WSL, and if she can hit it off with Miedema in the coming months, opposing defences will have every reason to fear City.
Simply the best
Miedema endured a season of rehabilitation in 2023-24 after sustaining a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury, which caused her to miss the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
She is one of several huge names in the women's game to be struck by what can only be described as an epidemic of ACL injuries at the top level.
While we do not have many numbers to look at from last year, the figures that Miedema put up en route to becoming the WSL's greatest-ever striker tell their own story.
The Netherlands international has scored 80 goals in 106 games in the competition, massively outperforming her 59.63 xG and scoring every 102 minutes on average.
Since Opta began collecting such data, she has had the most shots on record in the WSL with 452, and 198 of those have hit the target, which is another WSL record.
We know how deadly she can be, and only three players – England, Ellen White and Nikita Parris – have had more big chances fall their way in the WSL than Miedema (80), though only England (48) has converted more than the former Arsenal forward (44).
When breaking down how Miedema reached her record tally, only former Arsenal team-mate Jordan Nobbs (49) has scored more right-footed goals in the WSL than Miedema (48). City's new recruit has scored 25 goals with her left foot, fewer than only Caroline Weir (26) and Lauren Hemp (32). The other seven goals came from Miedema’s head.
Miedema prides herself on her ability to be in the right place at the right time, and she has scored 70 goals from inside the box, a WSL record, three clear of England (67).
Her accuracy in front of goal has been a crucial factor in Arsenal becoming a consistent threat in the WSL, claiming the title with Miedema leading the line in 2018-19. She scored 22 goals in 20 appearances in that year, outperforming her 14.6 xG, while her 20.37% shot conversion rate showcased the ruthless nature of her finishing.
She has only bettered that conversion rate once since then, scoring 16 goals in 2019-20 while registering a 28.57% conversion rate. Miedema was deadly when big chances came her way in 2018-19 and 2019-20, scoring 25 of 36 such opportunities across those two seasons.
Attack, attack, attack
One of the reasons Miedema has been so dangerous is her ability to play in multiple positions across the front four. It is not just goals Miedema brings – she is also a creative force, having laid on 35 assists in the WSL, which ranks behind only Beth Mead (45) and Katie McCabe (36).
City’s attack could not quite get them over the line last season. Winger Chloe Kelly created the second-most chances in the WSL (51), behind only Manchester United’s Katie Zelem (57), providing five assists.
Hemp created 13 big chances last term, a league-high figure, as well as providing a competition-leading eight assists. Hemp was second, behind team-mate Shaw, for overall goal contributions in the competition in 2023-24, with 19 (11 goals, eight assists).
With Khiara Keating starring in goal behind a league-leading defence that conceded just 15 times, it was in attack that City still seemed to lack something last season – scoring 10 goals fewer than Chelsea en route to their painful goal difference title loss.
So what was the missing link for City? Shaw’s injury at the back end of the season saw them lose their most clinical finisher and Chelsea found a way back in.
Addressing City's fans in an introductory press conference, Miedema said: “I have spoken with Gareth over the last couple of months and I got a good feeling from him.
“If you look at my career I actually started as a left winger, then moved to nine and recently played a lot in the 10.
“I am versatile, I like complementing those around me and assisting. It’s not all about scoring goals. I think we need to find the right combination and go from there."
Although a brilliant goalscorer in her own right, Miedema's link-up play could help to push her team-mates onto a new level, perhaps even allowing Shaw to surpass her goalscoring exploits.
Shaw has clearly been the main threat over the last three seasons but Miedema's arrival should take the weight off her shoulders and let her play with even more freedom.
What better way for Miedema and her new side to start their campaign than with a WSL opener away to her former club Arsenal on September 22? That contest will give an early indication of the team most likely to challenge Chelsea for their crown, with debate already swirling over whether Jonas Eidevall may regret letting Miedema go.
What is certain is City have given themselves the best chance of getting the goals they need to challenge for the title. Having Shaw and Miedema link up should excite not only City supporters but all WSL fans, with the duo having the potential to form the league's best partnership yet.
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