Max Verstappen achieved a great victory in the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prixeighth date of the season and moved away at the top of the World Championship, where he is now second Sergio “Checo” Perezwhich this Sunday completed the 1-2 of Red Bull on the Baku street circuit. There Ferrari had a black day with the abandonment of Charles Leclerc y Carlos Sainz. The podium was completed George Russellwith Mercedes.
At the start, Checo Pérez made a great start and overtook the poleman, Leclerc. Then the Mexican, thanks to a good pace of his RB18, took a difference of two seconds from Leclerc who tried to take care of his position from Max Verstappen, with the other Red Bull. It is a race in which tire degradation is the key due to the high temperature and the demands on the rubber when racing on the Baku street circuit. The leaders started with the medium Pirelli compound.
In the first part of the race the top ten places were completed by Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), George Russell (Mercedes), Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Taurus) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine).
On the ninth lap Sainz had a gearbox problem in his F1-75 and was stopped on the turn 4 escape lane. The virtual safety car came in and Leclerc came in on lap 10 to make his first stop but wasted time since they couldn’t get the cricket out (5 seconds stop). The Monegasque was third behind the Red Bull riders.
Sainz’s abandonment and Leclerc’s stop in which he lost time
On lap 15, Verstappen managed to get into the DRS zone on Pérez and overtook him heading into the first corner. Two laps later Pérez made his pit stop and they put hard tires on him. In round 19, Verstappen made good on stopping him (also hard compound) and Leclerc went on to command the race. He also took advantage of the fact that there was no safety car until then, the strategy that Red Bull opted for.
Although on lap 21 there was another scene hit with the Leclerc abandoned due to a mechanical failure and Verstappen went on to command the competition ahead of Checo Pérez. It was the third race in which the Monegasque lost a win, due to problems with his car and mistakes in his team’s strategy. “The failure was sudden. I am very disappointed, although I went through more difficult problems in my career. But the championship is long, ”said Charles in his first intervention with the media in the pits. “It was very frustrating and it was a negative day for the whole team. It is very difficult for me to get into a rhythm in this championship. But we have to be united as a team and hopefully it won’t happen again,” said Sainz.
Leclerc’s abandonment due to mechanical failure
Later Kevin Magnussen he defected due to problems with the Ferrari engine in his Haas and with the virtual safety car, Verstappen and Pérez (lap 34) made their second pit stop as did Russell and Hamilton. All four were put on the hard compound to get to the end of the competition.
Then Verstappen kept his pace at the front and from the pits his engineer asked him not to push the car to take care of the tyres. It should be remembered that in 2021 the Dutchman was leading and one of the rear tires broke.
Behind the two Red Bull drivers was Russell and his teammate, Hamilton, overtook Gasly to capture fourth position.
Verstappen knew how to take care of his car in the last section of the race and took his fifth victory of the season, number 25 in the Máxima. He moved away at the top of the championship, where now his escort is Checo Pérez, who finished second this Sunday. Russell finished third and He climbed to the podium for the third time in the championship and after eight dates he surpassed the performance of Hamilton.
“This Sunday we were a bit lucky as our car was fast, but we couldn’t have gotten close to Leclerc. We had a good pace and the behavior of the tire. Every weekend is different and you have to keep an eye on little things,” Verstappen said.
“When I started I had a lot of degradation in the rear tires. These are things that we have to see, but the important thing is that we get a good result. Max (Verstappen) was with a good advantage”, said Pérez.
The season will continue next weekend with the Canadian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Gilles Villeneuve on the Island of Notre Dame.
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