Sergio Perez has taken his second ever victory as Max Verstappen crashed out of a comfortable lead. Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly made the most of a rare error from Lewis Hamilton and rounded out the podium.
Mercedes’ Superb Start
Shockingly, it was a clean start at the front of the grid with Leclerc leading from Hamilton and Verstappen. Leclerc’s lead didn’t last long as Hamilton was able to pass without DRS assistance on lap 2. However, Verstappen did not have the same luck and was stuck behind the red car.
But, Leclerc was unable to keep in Hamilton’s DRS, making him a sitting duck for Verstappen on lap 7. A lap later, Perez took the Monagasque as well, putting Red Bull in a supreme position.
Pitlane Pandemonium
The first slew of pitstops began on lap 10 with many drivers attempting an undercut. This led to a wide array of strategies being implemented across the grid. Hamilton was the first of the leaders to blink, making the most of a yellow flag in S2 due to Sainz going off track. Hamilton had a less than perfect stop, while Verstappen was setting purple sectors.
Verstappen chose to pit immediately and a smooth stop put him in front of Hamilton. Perez inhertited the lead and, like his team-mate, started setting purple sectors. However, he was hampered by a slow stop, giving the lead to Verstappen but crucially coming out in front of Hamilton.
In the midfield, a superb stint from Vettel placed him in 7th, behind Leclerc. Tsunoda was 8th ahead of Norris while Bottas was languishing in p10.
By lap 19, Hamilton had caught up to the back of Perez and started hounding the Red Bull for P2. However, the Mercedes wasn’t able to make an overtake and, by lap 25, started falling behind.
Stroll Suffers
As the race was starting to become processional, Stroll suffered a huge crash on the main straight. His Aston Martin veered violently into the wall after a left rear puncture. Stroll was clearly shaken, but thankfully okay.
The safety car was deployed, but the red flags were not bought out. However, the pit lane was immediately closed, preventing any opportunistic strategy calls, but was lifted after the 4th lap of the safety car. Only the backmarkers decided to come in, but this caused an issue for Schumacher, who stopped at the end of the pit lane with a loose tyre.
The safety car came in on lap 35 and Verstappen went as far down the straight as he could to prevent a slipstream. The cars stayed the same at the front, but Vettel stormed into 5th with an incredible overtake on Leclerc. A few corners later, this turned into 4th, taking Gasly on the main straight.
At the front, Hamilton was again hounding the back of Perez while Verstappen was setting comfortable purples. However, Vettel was keeping Hamilton on his toes, the Aston Martin had much fresher tyres and was just outside DRS territory.
As the drivers came on to the dying laps, the battle for fastest lap was heating up between Verstappen and Hamilton, both drivers trading times for the extra championship point.
Max Madness
But absolute chaos struck with 4 laps to go as Verstappen crashed out of a comfortable lead. Like Stroll, the rear left punctured and left the driver stranded at the end of the main straight. The immediate safety car soon turned to a red flag, with uncertainty as to whether the race would restart.
The race would restart however, after a 30 minute break. All teams had changed tyres and were primed for a 3 lap shootout. Perez and Hamilton bolted on old softs while Vettel, in 3rd, had a brand new set, putting the Aston Martin in a very advantageous position.
Hamilton hugely misjudged the restart and tumbled out of the points on the first corner after briefly taking the lead, the championship was back in Verstappen’s favour. Perez held his own out the front and managed to avoid the chaos behind. Numerous overtakes somehow didn’t result in a major collision but the order changed on a corner by corner basis.
Gasly and Leclerc started a huge scrap for 3rd, the two switching positions numerous times on the last lap. Norris found his way into the battle as well, hounding the back of both cars. It was a supreme effort from Gasly to take his 3rd podium finish, fending off both of the cars behind. At the front, Perez cruised across the line ahead of an overjoyed Vettel. The drivers formed one of the happiest podiums seen in recent memory as Perez took only his second victory, Vettel taking Aston Martin’s first ever podium and Gasly’s third trip to the rostrum.
Standings
- Perez
- Vettel +1.385s
- Gasly +2.762s
- Leclerc +3.828s
- Norris +4.754s
- Alonso +6.382s
- Tsunoda +6.624s
- Sainz +7.709s
- Ricciardo +8.874s
- Raikkonen +9.576s
- Giovinazzi +10.254s
- Bottas +11.264s
- Schumacher +14.241
- Mazepin +14.315s
- Hamilton +17.668s
- Latifi +42.379s
- Russell RET
- Verstappen RET
- Stroll RET
- Ocon RET
Yet again, Baku has provided a hugely unpredictable race. Perez seems to have broken the second seat curse at Red Bull, who have now taken an even bigger step forwards in the Constructor’s Championship with Mercedes not scoring. While Verstappen may have lost out on 25 points, he is remarkably lucky to remain in the lead of the Driver’s Championship in a race that could become a pivotal moment.
F1 returns in two weeks for the French Grand Prix.
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
