Sergio Perez has raced to first place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Sprint in Baku ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Perez passed the pole-sitting Ferrari to take top spot while his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen was third in a damaged car following a clash with George Russell.

Leclerc held the advantage into the opening corner as the Sprint started, with Perez slotting into second.

Verstappen and Russell clashed over the same piece of tarmac as they rounded Turn 2 – the contact punching a hole in the Red Bull’s left-hand sidepod.

The Mercedes driver could not make the move stick then but slid up the inside at the next corner to steal away third place.

Drama beset Yuki Tsunoda as the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver tagged the wall at Turn 13, breaking his right-rear wheel rim.

It was an odd crash as the car understeered at what would typically be an easy left-hand kink.

It saw the tyre roll down the hill as Tsunoda tricycled his car out of harm’s way and back to the pits.

The Virtual Safety Car was deployed to calm the field and clear the stricken wheel and magnesium shards left behind.

Having been sent out by Scuderia AlphaTauri, Tsunoda limped the car around for a lap with the right-rear askew, prompting the car to crab its way around.

It eventually led to the full Safety Car being deployed while Race Control noted Tsunoda being released in an unsafe manner.

After scarcely a lap’s worth of racing, the race resumed as they started Lap 6.

Leclerc maintained his places out front at the restart while Verstappen mugged Russell at Turn 1.

Behind them, Lewis Hamilton lost a spot to Carlos Sainz at the same corner, the Spaniard taking fifth.

Fernando Alonso also found a way through as Hamilton fell to seventh soon after.

DRS was enabled as the field started Lap 7, Perez well within range of the race leader.

The Mexican used it to his full advantage to take the lead into Turn 1 as they started Lap 8.

Leclerc attempted to return serve into Turn 3 but wasn’t close enough.

Nor was he down the 2.2km front straight as he desperately tried to use Perez to keep himself clear of the looming Verstappen in his mirrors.

In the pack, Oscar Piastri moved by team-mate Lando Norris to take 10th place as they completed Lap 7.

Norris had started on the soft tyres, one of two drivers to make that choice, and he quickly began struggling for grip.

He fell victim to Nico Hulkenberg on the following lap, and then Kevin Magnussen in the second Haas soon after – McLaren pitting him soon after.

Out front, Leclerc had dropped out of DRS range with Perez but still had the championship leader for company in their battle for second.

The Ferrari driver dug deep and clawed his way back within a second of the race lead.

It was only brief as Perez extended once again to move 1.2s clear as he began Lap 14, Leclerc a similar gap ahead of Verstappen.

A lap later, the Ferrari’s pace was gone as he dropped 0.9s in a lap, extending that for the balance of the race to take a comfortable victory.

His margin at the chequered flag was 4.463s over Leclerc, who was 0.6s clear of Verstappen in third.

Russell finished fourth ahead of Sainz, Alonso, Hamilton, and Stroll completing the points-paying positions.

Piastri finished 10th, unable to pounce on Albon in the slippery Williams’.