The F1 World Cup is taking on an increasingly dark-blue-pulling-Red-Bull tone. In Baku, a capricious urban circuit given to surprises, the energetic team added its fifth consecutive victory, this time by Max Verstappen, who without being the favorite ended up walking in his fifth victory of the course thanks to the double abandonment due to breakdown of the two Ferrari .
It is useless for those from Maranello to be the best on Saturdays (6 of the 8 poles) when they break on Sundays. Leclerc relived Montmeló’s nightmare: he melted the engine when he was leading with authority.
The statistics made it clear: pole is not paramount in Baku, where in five editions only the driver who started first won twice. And Checo Pérez wanted to prove it from the start by stealing Leclerc’s privileged position at the start.
On the short straight to the first left corner, the Mexican accelerated much better, with better traction and a quicker reaction than the Monegasque, and took first place from the first corner. Leclerc went too far on the brakes, but was able to keep second position against Verstappen and Sainz, who kept their starting positions, like the rest of the top 10.
Among the top 10, it was soon clear who was attacking and who was defending: Leclerc was beginning to feel the breath of Verstappen, who was on top of him with a better top speed from Red Bull; Sainz, fourth, without rhythm, could not follow the Dutchman, who was more than 4 seconds away from him in just 7 laps; and behind, Vettel, who overtook Tsunoda, was approaching Hamilton, 7th.
The disaster visited Carlos Sainz again, who went off the track at turn 3 and was stopped there due to a breakdown of the Ferrari. Hydraulic problem, the Scuderia would say. It was the third abandonment of the Madrilenian, after the consecutive zeros of Australia and Imola.
On that same lap 10, taking advantage of the Virtual Safety Car (which prevents overtaking), Leclerc made his first pit-stop to change tires (hard) and strategy by bringing the stop forward. He had a free stop. But the front hydraulic jack got stuck, the stop was very slow and he lost many seconds compared to Verstappen, who accumulated 12.7 when he returned to the track.
Meanwhile, Pérez’s leadership was weakening. From 2 seconds that he took his partner on lap 12, he passed, seen and unseen, just 6 tenths two laps later. The tires gave out and the inevitable happened: the Mexican let the Dutchman pass, who took the lead on lap 15, without orders from the team to change position. The champion was like a plane. And the Mexican, incomprehensibly, melted and Leclerc was thrown on top of him.
The Mexican ended up ruining his race by going out to the pit-stop and being stopped for 5.7 seconds, which meant that Leclerc beat him to second position and that fourth, Russell, who had already stopped, bit him.
Verstappen’s first stop, lap 19, was not good either: 3.5 seconds the Dutchman was stopped, a time that added to the good laps that Leclerc had made with the hard ones took the Monegasque to the lead, with more than 12 seconds. First assault won for Ferrari.
But the joy in Maranello lasted very little, which once again savored the bitterness of misfortune. When on lap 20 he was leading by 12 seconds over Verstappen, his Ferrari suddenly said stop. A column of smoke showed engine failure that led to his abandonment, the second of the year, in a situation similar to that of the Spanish GP in Barcelona.
Double abandonment of the Ferrari, which called into question the reliability of the red cars. A disaster that triggered the result of the Red Bull, who would sign a double, with Verstappen dominating with more than 6 seconds over Pérez and 18 over Russell at the halfway point of the race (lap 26 of 51).
Not even a second Virtual Safety Car (lap 34) due to a breakdown in Magnussen’s Haas changed the script already written by the Red Bulls. Verstappen and Pérez had a free stop to put on new tires and return to the track with a world advantage over the third, Russell’s Mercedes. Between the two bulls, 12 seconds away for the Dutchman. There would be no internal struggle or fight for the podium.
The only bit of excitement left in the race was the duel for 5th place between Tsunoda, Hamilton, who was snuck up by the Japanese at the stop, and Vettel on the verge of a fight. The Englishman melted the Alpha Tauri on the first straight section he found to sit fifth, more than 10 seconds behind Gasly. The Frenchman would also end up eating him to climb to 4th place, his second best result of the year, but surpassed again by his teammate.
Fernando Alonso finished in the points again, 7th, behind Sebastian Vettel. The Spaniard had started 10th on the grid.
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
3. George Russell (Mercedes)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
5. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
6. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
7. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
8. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
9. Lando Norris (McLaren)
10. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
