Victorious Verstappen charges to Red Bull 1-2 in Baku amidst double Ferrari DNF.
P1 – VER
P2 – PER
P3 – RUS
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and that Baku never fails to deliver a popcorn-worthy race. That certainly was the case on Sunday!
Polesitter Charles Leclerc lost the lead to Perez at the start after locking up in turn 1 (likely due to cold tires), but regained the lead on Lap 19 when the Red Bull of Max Verstappen pitted.
Unfortunately for Leclerc, his seemingly endless string of bad luck continued as his Flaming-hot-Ferrari went up in a puff of smoke and he was forced to retire from the race. It was a day to forget for Ferrari (and not to mention – Ferrari-powered cars in general) as Carlos Sainz DNF’ed with a hydraulic failure on Lap 9 putting them a whopping 80 points behind Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship.
Leclerc’s downfall left for a fairly straightforward (albeit well deserved!) race win for Max Verstappen, with teammate Sergio Perez crossing the checkered flag in P2.
George Russell continued his impressive streak with yet another podium finish for the Brit in P3. Well done to Mr. Consistency!
Best of the Rest
Driver of the Day, Lewis Hamilton, finished P4 after starting in seventh in Baku despite obvious porpoising issues in his Silver Arrow (and, really, every car on the grid with the exception of Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso who shrugged off concerns).
It was the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly who crossed the finish line fifth, his best finish of the season. His teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, wasn’t so lucky when his rear wing needed to be closed with duct tape (is this Nascar or F1?) in the later stages of the race. Without DRS, Tsunoda finished outside of the points in P13.
The Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel finished P6, despite a jaw-dropping moment where he spun out trying to overtake Fernando Alonso who crossed the line seventh for the day.
It was the McLarens of Daniel Ricciardo (P8) and Lando Norris (P9) who caused a bit of uproar on social media amid strategy questions throughout the entirety of the race.
Esteban Ocon rounded out the points in P10 after starting thirteenth, furthering evidence that hard tyres were definitely the best choice for the day.
Looking Ahead
The grid finally makes its return to Montreal since 2019 in only a weeks’ time. Max leads the championship by 21 points over teammate Perez as we head to the Canadian Grand Prix. Will Red Bull continue its charge to the top or will Ferrari find answers to the reliability concerns?
