VIDEO: F1: THE 2018 AZERBAIJAN GP INJECTS SOME MUCH-NEEDED EXCITEMENT – FINALLY!

F1: The 2018 Azerbaijan GP injects some much-needed excitement – finally!

Sunday's Formula 1 Grand Prix was the most exciting race in ages as chaos ruled the streets of Baku, Azerbaijan. Defending world champion, Lewis Hamilton, claimed his first win of the 2018 season while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Force India's Sergio Perez finished second and third.

Hamilton's team-mate, Valterri Bottas, suffered a devastating blow after hitting debris, which caused a puncture to his Mercedes, forcing him to retire while in the lead in the final laps.

The Mercedes driver told AFP: "It was just unfortunate. Unlucky. Ten pints of beer and maybe I will be fine... I will get through it. You always have to get through it – it is a part of racing, but at the moment it is painful.

"Street circuits are difficult. There are always going to be crashes. I didn't know I had run over anything or seen anything. Just unlucky."

The race was action-packed from the first lap as, according to AP, the safety car was out almost immediately as several cars collided in the middle of the pack.

Sergey Sirotkin, driving for Williams, rear-ended Sergio Perez, causing several other cars to collide, leaving Sirotkin out of the race and Fernando Alonso limping back to the pits with two punctures.

Up front, at the very next turn, Kimi Raikkonen's aggressive overtaking attempt past Force India's Esteban Ocon, caused Ocon into the wall and out of the race with Raikkonen dropping to 14 after his Ferrari needed a new nose.

After the final re-start, Sebastian Vettel locked up and speared off the track after an unsuccessful attempt to pass Bottas, causing him to drop places and finish outside of the podium. The result has knocked him from the lead in the championship.

A hard fight between Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, which saw plenty of tyre-to-tyre action throughout, eventually ended with retirement for both as they collided with each other in the closing stages of the race.

Ricciardo was trying to go past on the left of Verstappen who then defended his position resulting in the Australian driving into the back of his Red Bull team-mate. Team chief Christian Horner said: "They both recognise that they screwed up today and will be apologising to the team and to all members of the team."

The surprise of the day came from Alfa Romeo Sauber driver, Charles Leclerc, who scored his first ever points after finishing sixth in Baku, bagging him the F1.com 'Driver of the day' award.

According to F1.com, "The 20 year old rookie kept calm throughout an incident-filled race and claimed eight points which slots him in 13th place in the world championship standings".

Leclerc said: "I felt comfortable in the car, and did my best to gradually advance to the front of the midfield through the race.

“It is an incredible feeling to score points for the first time in Formula 1."

Sunday's results looked like this:

Note – Magnussen received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Check out all the highlights in the video below.