After ending up on different strategies following the virtual safety car that was triggered by Sainz's retirement on lap nine, Verstappen and Leclerc looked set for another tight battle for victory, only for the other Ferrari to suffer the same fate when leading on lap 20.

From there it was a procession for Red Bull, with Perez, who led into the first corner after passing Leclerc off the line, unable to match Verstappen's pace on the Baku street circuit.

• Azerbaijan GP: Race result
• The latest F1 championship standings

The victory sees Verstappen extend his world championship lead to 21 points, with Perez, who took an additional point for setting the fastest lap time, overtaking Leclerc for second, with the Monegasque a further 13 points back. In the constructors' championship, Red Bull's lead over Ferrari grows to 80 points.

George Russell maintained his record of finishing in the top five at every race in his debut season at Mercedes as he secured another podium, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton battled through back pain caused by his bouncing car to climb to fourth.

Pierre Gasly was fifth for AlphaTauri, with Sebastian Vettel in sixth for Aston Martin. Both Alpine drivers scored points with Fernando Alonso seventh and Esteban Ocon 10th, while Daniel Ricciardo came out on top of a race-long duel with McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to finish a place ahead of the Brit in eighth.

As if seeing their own cars retire was not bad enough, there were also what appeared to be engine-related retirements for the Ferrari-powered cars of Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Alfa Romeo's Zhou Gunayu.

The outcome saw Leclerc fail to convert pole position to victory for a fourth successive race, with the Ferrari driver now having gone five races without a win, despite often appearing to have had enough speed to beat the Red Bulls.

It was Leclerc's second retirement from the lead with an engine failure in three races, with a strategy error in between in Monaco having seen him lose track position to the Red Bulls there.

Leclerc's hopes of ending the streak on Sunday were immediately dented as he was passed by Perez off the line, and he very nearly lost another place to Verstappen after a heavy lock-up at the first corner.

Despite the Red Bull's greater straight-line speed, Leclerc was able to hold Verstappen off in the early stages, until a hydraulic failure for Sainz on lap nine saw his Ferrari team-mate opt to pit under virtual safety car conditions, appearing to shift him to a two-stop strategy.

Verstappen stayed out and quickly closed down Perez to take the lead, with the Mexican ordered by the team not to "fight" his clearly faster team-mate. Perez's lack of pace was somewhat surprising following a brilliant performance to win in Monaco last time and an impressive showing throughout practice and qualifying in Baku.

Leclerc regained the lead when Verstappen pitted on lap 18, with their differing strategies appearing to set up an intriguing battle. However, just two laps later, smoke began to blow from the back of the Ferrari engine, leaving the distraught driver to make his way to the pits.

From there, Verstappen comfortably extended his advantage over Perez, with a later virtual safety car caused by Magnussen's retirement giving Red Bull the opportunity to stop both cars for fresh tyres, as they eliminated the chance of a repeat of last year's race when a tyre failure saw the Dutchman retire from a commanding lead.

Azerbaijan GP: Race Result
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Sergio Perez, Red Bull (fastest lap)
3) George Russell, Mercedes
4) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
5) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri
6) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin
7) Fernando Alonso, Alpine
8) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
9) Lando Norris, McLaren
10) Esteban Ocon, Alpine

Mercedes go through pain for points gain

While there was emotional pain for Ferrari, the problems were more physical for Mercedes as Russell and Hamilton overcame extreme discomfort to secure a strong points haul for the Silver Arrows.

Russell had a quiet afternoon as he took advantage of the Ferrari DNFs to cruise into third, but Hamilton had to fight his way through the midfield to seal fourth.

Despite fears expressed before the race by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff that Hamilton would struggle to complete the 51 laps due to back pain, the seven-time world champion produced a series of overtakes to earn fourth.

Fresher tyres enabled him to overcome a lack of straight-line speed as he put moves on Ocon, Ricciardo, Yuki Tsuonda and Gasly.

Hamilton said after the race that he had been "praying for it to end", while not for the first time this season, Wolff apologised to his driver for the condition of the car.

For Russell, he maintained his record as the only driver to finish in the points at every race this season, as the 24-year-old secured the third podium of what is proving to be a highly impressive debut campaign with the team.

"I was pretty pleased to see the race coming to a close because you're just smashing the ground every single corner and lap for an hour and a half, pretty brutal," said Russell, who closed to within 17 points of Leclerc in the world championship.

"I'm pleased to be standing on the podium as a team we've got to be there at the end to pick up the pieces."

Will Ferrari solve issues for Canada?

With just a few days to go until Formula One's all new cars for the 2022 season return to the track for next weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, there will be major fear at Ferrari of further engine issues.

Appearing distraught as he spoke to Sky Sports F1 shortly after his retirement, Leclerc urged his team to prevent their reliability gremlins from playing a factor once more.

"It hurts. We really need to look into that for it not to happen again, I can't really find the right words to describe this," Leclerc said.

"It's very, very disappointing. We really need to look into it."

Team principal Mattia Binotto was unable to offer a huge amount of reassurance, explaining that the team would need to identify the problem before discovering whether or not a "quick fix" is possible.

"As a team we pushed a lot through the winter last year to develop the car, we've proved that we're not yet fully reliable, there's still some work to be done," Binotto said.

"We need to stay patient, analyse and understand."

When's the next F1 race?

You only have to wait a few days for the resumption of an epic Formula 1 2022 season, with the Canadian Grand Prix beginning with practice on Friday. All the action will be live on Sky Sports F1 and the race - which often delivers drama - is at 7pm on the Sunday.