Perez, who started second on the grid behind Leclerc at the start, followed him throughout the opening lap before Kakuda crashed into the wall at Turn 14 and the race was halted after the safety car came out.

The Japanese rider tore his right rear tire off the rim and appeared to come into contact with teammate Nick de Vries, damaging his front wing.

As Tsunoda climbed back into the pit lane, a virtual safety car emerged. Although AlphaTauri tried to salvage something from the sprint with a fresh set of tires, the car slanted significantly on the straight and the team was investigated for releasing the car in unsafe conditions.

By lap three, this had evolved into a full-fledged safety car, and once the debris was cleared from the track, the procedure resumed on lap six.

Leclerc let himself go at the restart to stay ahead of Perez, leading for the next two laps, with the Mexican keeping tabs on him.

But once DRS became available again, Perez became an even stronger force in Leclerc’s rearview mirror and pulled the Ferrari back on the 2.2km Neftchilar Boulevard straight at the end of lap seven, sweeping the In the past, took the 17-lap race lead.

The Monaco was right behind him and took a brief look from the inside at Turn 3, but ultimately had no chance to reciprocate.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, other drivers at the start of the Sprint

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

With more straight-line speed, Perez could slowly start moving away from Leclerc and eventually out of DRS range, as Leclerc was more concerned with trying to manage his tires to stay ahead of Max Verstappen.

The Ferrari driver again briefly approached and got back within Perez’s DRS range, but the Red Bull driver switched on the wick and again edged Leclerc by almost a second per lap, growing from the flag to 4.4 seconds.

Leclerc managed to hold on to second on Verstappen’s late charge as the defending champion was injured in a skirmish with George Russell on the first lap.

The Mercedes driver got off to a better start, fought alongside Verstappen in the opening corners and eventually passed him at Turn 3 – Verstappen complained that Russell had touched him on the first lap. He suffered a small gash to the left compartment of his Red Bull and dropped him provisionally to fourth.

But after the race restarted after the safety car, Verstappen gained a huge advantage on Russell and overtook him to reclaim third.

However, Verstappen was unable to get into Leclerc and was out of DRS activation for most of the sprint – only coming within a second of the final laps.

Russell finished fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz, who had dealt with Lewis Hamilton earlier and trailed the Briton before the restart.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, fighting George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14 ahead of Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23

Photography: Simon Galloway/ motorsport pictures

Alonso passed Hamilton with the same move as Lance Stroll scored the final point after his battle with Alex Albon.

Stroll overtook Williams from a wide margin at Turn 1, holding Albon at Turn 3.

Oscar Piastri completes the top 10 after passing teammate Lando Norris – who struggled for speed before an eventual pit stop turned his race into a A glorious test match.

F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint results: