F1 Sprint: Baku GP – Sergio takes the first Sprint of the season
This week is the debut of the new F1 Sprint weekend in the Baku GP. We have already had Qualifying for the main race on Friday. Today was a dedicated Sprint event.
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Sergio takes first place from Leclerc and the wounded Max Verstappen. Sergio took the lead early on and controlled the pace well throughout the shorter sprint session. Charles will be disappointed that he didn’t convert pole into a win, however his Ferrari seemed to keep up with the Redbull, hopefully that pace can be replicated in the Grand Prix on Sunday.
It didn’t take long for the first incident to take place, with Verstappen having a slightly slower start, allowing the Mercedes of George Russell to challenge the reigning champion, both drivers ran next to each other, although Russell did make slight contact with the side of the Red Bull, pushing him wide and allowing a swap of positions.
Max and George would exchange some words after the race, however not to the satisfaction to the reigning champion.
Yuki Tsunoda’s race lasted around half a lap, damaging his Alpha Tauri after contact with the barrier, this incident led to his eventual retirement, but not before the team decided to send the clearly damaged car back into the race.
Re-Start
The re-start allowed Verstappen to take his revenge on George Russell, diving down the inside of the Mercedes into the first corner and retaking the place he lost on the first lap.
Sergio Perez, took advantage of the superior DRS on the Red Bull to take the lead from Leclerc, keeping the Red Bull around a second from the Monégasque.
Further down the Field
Some drivers were looking to turn their bad luck round, none more so than the Alpine pair of Ocon and Gasly, however today was not their day, Ocon took to the pits to change on to the soft tires, in a 17 lap race a pit stop puts you to the back and keeps you there. this weekend has been a horrible weekend for the Alpine team and doesn’t look to get much better.
Lando Norris also fell victim to the softs degrading quickly, the British driver took the chance on the softs in the hope to gain some places, however this didn’t materialize, he would end up pitting to change onto the medium tire, but the damage was done.
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