Red Bull Completes One-Two as Disaster Struck Ferrari At The Azerbaijian GP
Azerbaijan brought a rollercoaster of emotions for all the teams. The 3.7-mile track had a 1.4-mile long straight, which prompted the teams to use different setups for their machines. If they use a high downforce setup, they will lose a significant amount of time on the straight. If they went for the opposite and opted for a low downforce setup, they would lose a significant amount of time at the twisty castle section. Teams had to choose between losing time on the straights or the winding sector two. Teams made different choices and the differences in setups meant different results and struggles for the teams.
Alpine went for an extremely low drag setting, giving them a competitive top speed but awful control in the corners. The latter doesn’t matter for them as most of the overtaking chances are on or right after the straights. Fernando Alonso was able to hold the McLaren duo behind for a P7 finish. Esteban Ocon was able to get the last point available in P10 for an Alpine double points finish.
The McLaren duo had some disagreement on who should get the P8 finish as Daniel Ricciardo was not able to pass Alonso at the late stages of the race. Lando Norris was sitting behind Ricciardo waiting to pounce but Ricciardo’s speed was matching Norris’. Therefore, the team ordered Norris to hold his position. Ricciardo finished in P8 and Norris finished right behind him in P9. “I could’ve finished eighth if I was more of a rebel, but I accept what we did as a team,” said Norris after the race.
Sebastian Vettel had an amazing race in Azerbaijan yet again. He gave another performance worthy of the title “the King of Baku.” The Aston Martin driver qualified a brilliant P9 but made a mistake early in the race. The German was too late on the brakes into turn three, running into the escape road and losing precious positions. Vettel was able to recover for a P6 finish, the best result for him and Aston Martin so far this season.
The AlphaTauri teammates met different fates during the race. Yuki Tsunoda was able to stay in the points during the closing stages until a drag reduction system (DRS) failure. Tsunoda was shown a black and orange flag, which meant Tsunoda was forced to make an extra pitstop to repair his rear wing, dropping out of the points positions. Gasly was able to maintain his front-running position and finish P5, ending his point drought since Australia.
The Mercedes duo was able to finish in P3 and P4, with George Russell taking another podium position and extending his top five finishing streak. Despite the good result, the porpoising issue is still the looming over the team. “We were smashing the ground every single corner and every lap for 90 mins, it was pretty brutal,” said Russell. “There’s lots of intelligent people, hugely talented engineers in the sport so I’m sure we’ll find a solution.” Lewis Hamilton had it worse as he complained about the bouncing causing intense backpain during the race. He was seen struggling to get out of his car after the race. “I just got through that race on adrenaline, biting down on my teeth through the pain,” said the seven-time world champion. “I can’t express the pain that you experience, especially on the straight here.“
Ferrari experienced a double retirement, cutting their race short. Carlos Sainz was met with a hydraulics issue on lap nine and Charles Leclerc once again experience an engine issue on lap 21. “Another DNF – it hurts… We really need to look into that for it to not happen again,” said the Monegasque. After three disastrous race weekends, Ferrari’s point deficit in the Constructors' Championship has increased to 80 and Leclerc has lost his second place in the Drivers’ Championship.
Red Bull continued their dominant run, finishing one-two at Azerbaijan. Sergio Perez jumped Leclerc for the lead at the start but was forced to relinquish his position to teammate Max Verstappen in the middle of the race due to tyre issues. Verstappen maintained the lead to the line after 51 laps, extending his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 21 points. “To get a 1-2 for the Team was really good, we’ve scored some good points today and made the gap bigger to Ferrari,” said the defending World Champion. Perez took second place in the championship after another podium and he might actually get a shot on the Drivers’ title this year.
Formula 1 will return to Montreal this weekend after its two-year absence from the F1 calender. What changes will teams bring to Canada? Will Ferrari be able to bounce back from this terrible run of form? We will see how the results unfold this weekend.
