Max Verstappen won a thrilling Azerbaijan Grand Prix following a duel with his teammate and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
It was Perez who started quickest darting up the inside to take 1st on lap 1.
However following another double retirement for the Scuderia it was Verstappen who pulled out a comfortable gap to take victory around the streets of Baku.
Special mention to George Russell who kept up his incredible consistency to take another podium in third.
Keeping it clean on lap 1
The Red Bulls were quickest off the line as they charged down to T1. Sergio Perez – in fine form following his victory in Monaco – squeezed up the inside of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
The Mexican is having a stellar few weeks securing his long term future with the Red Bull team and also outlining himself as a title challenger.
He supported this claim with a confident move off the line while Leclerc was made to rue a lock up heading into the corner affecting his tyre performance for the rest of the stint.
Further down the field it was a surprisingly clean getaway with the status quo maintained down the field.
The only exception being Nicholas Latifi who served a 10-second-stop-go penalty on Lap 4 for a starting grid infringement
Red Bulls set up for Sunday again
Charles Leclerc did a stonking job to stick it on pole on Saturday with many expecting the Red Bull to be the best car. Such is his consistency on qualy day at the moment you wouldn’t put it past him to fight for pole at every event this season.
However another theme of 2022 is seeing the Bulls come charging back on a Sunday with a set up more suitable for the race.
Lap 6 and that seemed to be the case with Max Verstappen within a second of the Ferrari getting closer all the time in third.
Things were not much better for the sister Ferrari in 4th as Carlos Sainz rotten luck continued.
A hydraulic failure on Lap 9 brought his race – and his slim title hopes – to a juddering end.
The resulting VSC led to some action in the pits with Charles Leclerc darting in. A gamble considering the two Red Bulls chose to continue.
The Aston Martin team pulled a blinder getting Seb Vettel out before Hamilton – he had to double stack behind Russell – rubbing salt in Toto Wolff’s wounds following another damaging weekend for the Mercedes team. Any hopes of a turn around were quickly extinguished by the lack of pace and extreme porpoising on Saturday.
Lap 11 and we were back racing. Charles Leclerc way back in 3rd but on the hard compound which Ferrari hoped would see him through till the end of race.
Red Bull now in the unfortunate situation of having their two guys fighting at the front. Team Principal Christian Horner hoped for a different outcome to the infamous 2018 crash.
There was to be no such incident this time with an easy pass for Verstappen on lap 15. “No fighting” came the call from the Red Bull pit wall.
Team orders? Or simply worried about the charging Leclerc?
Further back Vettel – who picked up a podium in Baku last year – was making moves. He closed up and passed the Mercedes however overcooked in in the braking zone.
After locking up and getting repassed by Hamilton he also lost a place to Tsunoda to drop him to 12th. Hero to zero is often the way in the high stakes world of F1.
Perez was the first of the Red Bulls in as he put the hard tyres on. A 5.7 second stop did his race hopes no favours though.
No such issues for Verstappen as he completed his one stop and came out 13s behind the sole Ferrari – albeit with much fresher tyres – and began to chase him down.
Another double retirement for Ferrari
Leclerc recently emphasised the fact that his team could not afford any more mistakes.
The message clearly wasn’t heard by the troublesome F1-75 as pulled up on the start/finish straight with plumes of smoke coming out of his car.
It’s the second time in three races the Monegasque driver retired from the lead and at the minute, while the car is clearly quick, the Italian team seem unable to hook up a clean weekend for both drivers.
Their was also woe for the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo. Zhou Guanyu, who was running in 10th, was told to box on lap 23 with issues.
As we went past the half-way mark of the race they had now pitted and were making inroads running in 9th and 10th respectively. The Alpha Tauri’s were manging to avoid the bad luck other Italian teams were facing with Gasly up in 4th and Tsunoda close behind in 7th.
The Haas car hadn’t looked great all weekend but Magnussen was starting to look like a points contender as he hustled Esteban Ocon in 10th.
But the Ferrari woe was to continue in what must have been a troubling afternoon for their engine department. Smoke poured out of the Haas and K-Mag pulled over to the side of the road shortly after.
Battle for the fastest lap
A VSC came out as a result of the stricken Haas giving a few drivers the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres without losing too much time.
Both Mercs and Red Bulls came in for hard tyres while 9th-placed Ricciardo took a punt on the medium.
A promising race was cut short for Yuki Tsunoda running in 6th after his rear wing seemed to split in half meaning only half of the flap was opening giving him the DRS boost. The team brought him in and taped the wing shut as a temporary measure. Something the FIA officials weren’t too happy about.
That moved Vettel up to 6th – a great result after his earlier spin – while Alonso moved up to 7th on a weekend he became the longest serving driver to the F1 brand.
Overtaking figures are always high around Baku and this race was no different.
The front of the grid was decided however with Verstappen leading Perez in a comfortable 1-2. Mercedes came home for a strong 3rd and 4th with Russell the lead driver yet again. It was a return to form for Gasly in 5th while Vettel continued his strong record at the circuit in 6th.
The remaining battle was for the lower points-scoring positions with the McLarens fighting the Alpines. Ricciardo needed a strong result here but the medium tyre didn’t quite work out and he instead found himself under pressure from his teammate behind. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t give the place up, despite Norris’ complaints over the radio.
The Papaya McLarens finished 8th and 9th while the Alpine’s made it four teams double-scoring on Sunday with their cars coming home in 7th and 10th.
The F1 circus moves on to Montreal next weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve.