Sergio Perez made it double in F1 Azerbaijan GP from Max Verstappen as Charles Leclerc had his first podium of the year.
It was relatively clean start from all in F1 Azerbaijan GP as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the way from Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez from pole, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fourth keeping Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at bay in the Top 5.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was sixth where teammate Lanco Stroll made up three places to be seventh from McLaren’s Lando Norris. Another gainer was Mercedes’ George Russell in ninth, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda dropping to 10th.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was 11th after being hit by Williams’ Alexander Albon in Turn 3, with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas also getting hit by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. The Finn was at the side of Piastri where he lost nearly five places and caused a yellow flag too.
Once the DRS was enabled, it didn’t take much time for Verstappen and also Perez to pass Leclerc to be first and second in F1 Azerbaijan GP. As the pit stop sequence started with Verstappen also doing the same, there was a safety car deployed.
AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries was stopped on track and the safety car allowed Perez to assume lead of F1 Azerbaijan GP from Leclerc, with Verstappen down to third. Sainz was fourth still with the double stop as Alonso gained a place to fifth.
Even Russell gained due to Aston Martin’s double stack to be sixth and passing Stroll while entering the pits. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was eighth along with Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg where the two drivers started from the pitlane and did not stop.
Hamilton was the one to lose out in 10th ahead of Norris and Tsunoda, who also lost the Top 10 places then. The re-start was well for Perez with the F1 Azerbaijan GP lead as Verstappen wasted no time to clear Leclerc to take second by Turn 3.
Behind, Alonso cleared Sainz to be fourth as Stroll cleared Russell for sixth. In fact, the Brit also lost to Hamilton who climbed up to seventh from 10th after re-start. Ocon and Hulkenberg rounded the Top 10 from Norris and Tsunoda close by.
While Verstappen continued his chase of Perez, the two had a good gap to Leclerc, Alonso and Sainz. Behind them, Hamilton was up to sixth when Stroll first clipped the wall on the left and then a lap later went wide which got the Brit interested.
Russell started to tap on Stroll as well, with Ocon and Hulkenberg managing a Top 10 by mid-way in the F1 Azerbaijan GP. It was steady at the front with close shaves for both Perez and Verstappen, while Leclerc had to fend off Alonso for third.
Sainz dropped off and had Hamilton on his tail. With Alfa Romeo’s Bottas running at the far, teammate Zhou Guanyu was asked to pit and retire the car with a problem. It was steady at the front, but Norris and Tsunoda finally got through Hulkenberg for 10th and 11th.
The German had a moment which got Norris through and a lap later Tusnoda went through to with Haas asking Hulkenberg to keep going for anything to happen. There was a Turn 1 moment for Russell too and he decided to pit for the fastest lap.
It was steady from Perez in the end to win the F1 Azerbaijan GP from Verstappen with Leclerc ending up third from Alonso, Sainz, Hamilton and Stroll, with Russell in eighth taking the fastest lap too as Norris and Tsunoda rounded the Top 10.
Unwell Piastri was 11th from Albon and Magnussen, as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly climbed up to 14th from last lap stopper and teammate Ocon. Williams’ Logan Sargeant was 16th from Hulkenberg and Bottas to round out the 18 runners.
DNF: Guanyu, De Vries.
RACE CLASSIFICATION
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Here’s how F1 Azerbaijan GP sprint race panned out