Red Bull Racing’s F1 team representative Christian Horner looks back on the 2022 F1 Round 8 Azerbaijan Grand Prix final.
At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were both forced to retire due to technical trouble, while Max Verstappen brilliantly controlled the race to win the championship, followed by teammate Sergio Perez and Red Bull. We presented racing with a 1-2 finish, which is the third time in the season. George Russell (Mercedes) came in third.
The moment the start signal disappeared, Leclerc made a good start, but the Czech start was slightly faster and lined up inside on Turn 1 after a short acceleration race. And when Leclerc, who tried to protect his advantage, locked up the tires with deep braking, the Czech Republic took the lead.
Max tried to attack while Leclerc was trying to rebuild, but Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) in 4th place put pressure on Turn 2 and had to defend. Behind the top four, Russell defended fifth, ahead of Pierre Guthrie (Scuderia AlphaTauri) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
The Czech Republic, which was in the lead, immediately began to widen the gap, and by the end of the fourth lap, the difference with Leclerc was 2.2 seconds. Max’s appearance is greatly reflected in the mirror of Leclerc. On the fifth lap, Max approaches Leclerc with the assistance of DRS, but Leclerc does not succumb to the threat and manages ERS well to keep Max away.
The ranking will remain unchanged until the 9th lap. However, Sainz suddenly lost power and was forced to evacuate to the escape road on Turn 4. Sainz tried to return to the track, but it soon became clear that his race was over. Later, Ferrari confirmed that it was a hydraulic trouble.
Ferrari puts Leclerc in the pit while the virtual safety car (VSC) is introduced and it is in a caution state. However, as the front jack stack took time to replace hard tires and the two Red Bull Racing cars stayed out, Leclerc returned to the track in 3rd place, 12.8 seconds behind Max, who chased the Czech Republic by 2 seconds. did.
On lap 15, Max approaches the Czech Republic and uses DRS to dodge his teammates and take the lead. Behind them, Leclerc is closing the gap at a pace one second faster than the two Red Bull Racing cars, and on lap 16 it is close to 7.9 seconds behind the Czech Republic.
After the 16th lap, the Czech Republic headed to the pits and changed to hard tires. However, due to the trouble of the gantry light, the Czech Republic also has a delay in pit work like Leclerc. This puts Leclerc in front of the Czech Republic, who returns to the course in 3rd place just before Russell.
Max made a pit stop after the 18th lap, changed to hard tires with a stop time of 3.5 seconds, and returned to the course 13.6 seconds behind Leclerc. The Czech Republic was approaching behind him, and he slammed the fastest lap in quick succession and squeezed within 4 seconds from Max.
On the 20th lap, the race development will undergo a major change. White smoke suddenly rose from the rear of Leclerc’s machine, and Leclerc immediately reported the problem via radio. He was discouraged and headed for the pit lane and retired. With this, Max regains the lead 5.2 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic.
On lap 33, Kevin Magnussen (Haas)’s Ferrari PU was exhausted and stopped the car on the course side. This will introduce the second VSC in this race. Red Bull Racing took this opportunity to pit two cars and replace them with new hard tires. Russell also changed to new tires, but Guthrie chose to stay out, and Yuki Tsunoda (Scuderia AlphaTauri), who had emerged in 5th place in front of Hamilton who entered the pit during the introduction of VSC, was also on the course. stay.
Kakuda was immediately overtaken by Hamilton, and the Black & Orange flag was posted because the DRS only worked on one side, and he dropped out of the top 10 battle. Scuderia AlphaTauri recalled Kakuda to the pits and taped the wings to the course, but Kakuda lowered his position to 13th. As a precautionary measure, two Red Bull Racing cars were also instructed not to use DRS in the future.
Behind the top group, Guthrie began to suffer from poor grip on hard tires with repeated laps. Guthrie tried to keep his position several times, but allowed Hamilton to lead in the DRS zone towards Turn 3 on lap 44.
The remaining laps will be few, and the ranking will be in a stalemate. Max, who had completed 51 laps, received the checkered flag and recorded his 25th career win. The victory also marked Max’s 66th podium finish at Red Bull Racing, breaking the team record held by Sebastian Vettel. The Czech Republic came in second after Max, finishing the podium for the fifth time this season and deciding a 1-2 finish. In addition, the Czech Republic recorded 1 minute 46 seconds 046 on the 36th lap, which became the fastest lap and scored another 1 point. Russell, who finished the podium for the third time in the season, came in third.
Hamilton came in 4th, followed by Guthrie in 5th. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) broke into sixth place, the best of the season. 7th place Fernando Alonso (Alpine) held down Lando Norris & Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren to the end, and 10th place Esteban Ocon (Alpine) got the last one point.
As a result, Max continued to take the lead in the drivers’ championship with 150 points. The Czech Republic moved up to 2nd place in the championship with 129 points, 13 points behind Leclerc. In the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull Racing totaled 279 points, 80 points behind Ferrari in 2nd place and 161 points over Mercedes in 3rd place.
“We got great results on the circuit where unpredictable events happen. It’s a shame we couldn’t show our fans the strategy we had today because Ferrari stopped when we introduced Virtual Safety. We were planning to delay the change to hard tires more and gain an advantage late in the race, “commented Christian Horner.
“Nevertheless, thanks to both drivers showing a great drive, we were able to take full advantage of the various events that took place during the race. We are telling Max and the Czech Republic to have a clean and fair race. But they did it. Both drivers are doing a great job for the team. I’m really proud of today’s results for the whole team. “
Category: Category: F1 / Red bull / F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix