F1: Sergio Perez wins Azerbaijan GP along with Vettel and Gasly on podium in Baku

WHAT A RACE! Sergio Perez wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in a shocking race filled with overtakes, crashes, and intelligent strategies. Sergio Perez of Red Bull won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after his teammate Max Verstappen was involved in a high-speed incident that caused the race to be paused for some time. Verstappen was unharmed, but he was visibly upset and despondent because he was on his way to victory until the incident with three laps to go.

This marks Perez’s first Red Bull victory, and only his second in his career. Interestingly, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who was second after the crash, did not even make the top ten, with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly finishing second and third, respectively.

The German, Sebastian Vettel had a long opening stint on the soft compound tyres to work his way through the pack, and then executed two excellent overtakes during the Safety Car restart to win the race. He ended up winning the Driver of the day as well.

Gasly, meanwhile, got off to a superb fourth-place start, and his qualifying performance from the day before helped him win the race. While he battled with Leclerc for the majority of the day, he was able to extract enough speed on the final two laps to hold the Ferrari at bay. Following a fantastic start to the season, it was just a matter of time before he returned to the podium for the first time since winning in Monza last year.

Pole-sitter Leclerc finished fourth, missing the pace to keep up with the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes, and then being overtaken by both Gasly and Vettel during the pit stops. His teammate recovered to eighth after dropping to the back of the midfield after running off earlier in the race. In the end, Sainz had a good recovery drive.

Norris finished sixth for McLaren, who was fortunate not to lose a larger number of points to their opponents today. With Ricciardo finishing ninth, it may have been double points, but it was a matter of what could have been based on pace.

Investigations into Verstappen will begin, but you can understand his evident irritation. He passed Leclerc on the track, jumped Hamilton in the pits, and then raced a flawless race. He was on his way to win when the apparent tyre breakdown occurred, and he let 25 points slip through his fingers.

Mercedes earned no points today, with Bottas finishing 12th after a lacklustre afternoon and Hamilton finishing 15th. His post-race radio verified that he had inadvertently left a switch to the brake ‘magic’ on at the restart, which he should have turned off on the grid. That played a role in his Turn 1 nightmare. Is this his second error in six races, or is the pressure getting to him?

It was a crazy race from start to finish. The driver’s championship is still very close, only 4 points separating Max and Hamilton. Redbull took a huge lead in constructor’s standings. Let’s see what happens next in the Canadian Grand Prix.

 

 

 

 

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