Race Summary - Azerbaijan (Baku)!

Now thats what we call racing. Baku did not disappoint with constant racing all the way through and some shocking incidents that could have consequences for a driver. Lets go.

Qualifying

In qualifying session was saw Leclerc absolutely dominate in beating Piastri by 3 tenths. He truly showed that this is one of his favourite tracks.

Start of the Race

We saw an awesome start from LeClerc in the first corner he absolutely flew off. Piastri managed to secure second but Sainz lost out 3rd position to Perez who had a brilliant start off the line. I genuinely thought it was a false start but just brilliant execution.

Tsunoda and Lance Stroll came together resulting in a puncture for stroll and sidepod damage for Tsunoda. This ultimately led Tsunoda to retire his car.

Norris managed to gain a few spots on his opening lap going from 15th to 12th.

Stint 1

Stint 1 definitely was the less entertaining part of the race. With a majority of the top 10 starting on the medium tyre it was interesting to see when they would come in to pit for their next set as there was early complaints on the level of grip. Only Albon in the top 10 started on the hard.

By lap eight in the race, Norris managed to get into the points by overtaking Bearman. He needed to be on a hunt to finish ahead of a Verstappen in order to push toward the WDC.

The medium tyre did not seem to maintain its front grip very well throughout the stint the likes of Colapinto pitted on lap 10 for the set of hard compounds and the first of the top five was Verstappen pitting for his hard compound tyre. Russell followed in straight behind the Verstappen not allowing for any kind of tyre advantage. The rest of the cars would follow suit in the top five however Leclerc had enough gap to push his tyres to lap 16.

Norris and Albon starting on that hard compound saw them in the top five for significant amount of the second stint. The compound had a lot of life in it with a lot of cars only making a one stop strategy in fact most cars making a one stop. This left Norris ahead of Perez, which allowed Piastri to extend his medium compound tyre with Lando holding up Perez.

Stint 2

Piastri managed to maintain his second place from Paris creating a two second gap by lap 19. Piastri then now set his sights on LeClerc being within DRS range relatively quickly after pitstop. There has been some post race controversy about McLaren‘s flexible rear wing. (Please see below) as the load increases the rear wing compresses almost acting like a DRS without the flap opening. As long as it’s legal with the FIA and incredibly smart design and could be one of the main reasons why they are so hard to catch even with DRS.

Into corner one on lap 20 Piastri absolutely sends it into an excellent overtake probably one of the best overtakes I’ve seen this season definitely in the top three timestamp 8:55 on highlight below. The point in the race the top three were battling each other as they were DRS range of each other. Behind them 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th were also in their own DRS train creating some great racing and excitement through the race.

The battle with Norris and Verstappen on lap 24 was also quite excited to watch some very close but fair racing. This is obviously a very important battle against rivals given the champion situation going into this race.

Back to the front of the pack. Lap 28 presented another opportunity for LeClerc to get Piastri being under half a second behind on the main street with DRS. Unfortunately, for Leclerc, Piastri defended very well and did not allow. This was wearing down Leclerc tyre and battery. Again, another opportunity for Leclerc to take Piastri but that flexible wing on the rear of the McLaren was doing its job and given the extra speed he needed on that main street. Lap 34 the top three closed up to within DRS range again all be in within 6 tenths of one another. It was great to watch however nothing came from it.

Lando Norris finally came into the pits on lap 38 for a nice fresh set of medium compound tyres. This would then put them in the cleaner air and an opportunity to hunt down Verstappen to try and get ahead of him in points this weekend. On lap 49 Lando Norris manages to fly by Max Verstappen.

Over last few laps, LeClerc look like he was about to lose second position to Sergio Perez who was all over him. Pushing against the McLaren had obviously ruined the Ferrari tyres however he did manage to defend and on that presented an opportunity for Sainz to try and get that third position of Perez. Then this is where the controversy begins.

Exit of turn two Sainz is ahead of Perez in Leclerc slip stream. Perez’ exit puts him just along side the back wheel of Sainz. The onboard cameras show no turning off the steering wheel however the two cars end up coming together. Carlos had the track position of course so it is interesting. Why didn’t Perez make any sort of evasive manoeuvre? However the two cars ended up into the wall ending both of their races one lap before the end.

Post race the FIA have said this is a racing incident and there will be no further actions. I do agree with that statement. Sainz had track position and could’ve moved however why would he? Perez similarly was gaining on Sainz but didn’t want to lose the advantage he had to evade. This happens in racing and it’s a shame for Perez as this was almost his comeback race however he has absolutely demolished another car. It will be interesting to see what RedBull decision will be. He through a podium position away and now McLaren is ahead of RedBull.

The race then ended under virtual safety car with Piastri taking the checkered flag first followed by Leclerc and Russell.

As you can see from the tyre strategies almost all were 1 stop races with the exception of Verstappen who was going to go for fastest lap. I think the degradation was surprising as the medium was very high however the hard was extremely durable. Singapore will be interesting especially with threats of rain.

Summary

An absolutely great race from Piastri after those attacks from LeClerc in the later laps, he ended up just pulling away and absolutely cruising to win. With the discussion from Monza about allowing Norris through I kinda of puts things in to perspective for the team. At this point the fight seems to be on for 2nd place in WDC. He can definitely compete for a drivers championship if he performed better earlier in the season he could be a genuine contender for the world drivers.

Watch Highlights Here

Standings

For the first time in 3 years we have a new constructor in the lead of the championship. McLaren have been excellent this season and their hard work is showing. Verstappen is keeping the lead but the battle for second is getting heated.

Lights Out!

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