Hakkinen: Max has to thank Sergio for victory

After both Ferraris withdrew from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, nothing could stop the Red Bull Racing drivers from earning a winning double for their team. Two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen commented on the weekend’s results in Baku†

Supposedly Charles Leclerc is now trying to figure out what to do to put luck on his side. On Sunday, he started from pole position for the fourth race in a row, after putting in a great qualifying lap on Saturday and pushing the car to its limits.

It looked like we were going to see an intense battle to win the race as Max Verstappen was confident he could overtake Charles, but we weren’t destined to see it because the Ferrari car had an engine failure.

In Scuderia, they understand how much they’ve lost in the last three races because they’ve had problems with engines twice, plus they made tactical miscalculations – in theory, Charles missed out on victories in Barcelona, ​​Monaco and Baku because of it all. Not only did none of the Ferrari cars make it to the finish line last Sunday, but if this happens on the day Red Bull Racing won the winning double and increased their lead in both championship standings, it would already be a disaster.

It will be interesting to know the reasons for the retirement of Haas and Alfa Romeo cars, as they also have Ferrari power plants, and if all this is the result of a specific problem, it needs to be urgently addressed.

Only three grands prix to go before the championship equator, and Maranello definitely needs to deal with technical issues and increase reliability, as well as be more confident in choosing tactics. For every mistake they make, Red Bull’s rivals will punish them, and we witnessed it again in Baku.

At the same time, it is worth noting that Sergio Perez perfectly fulfills the task assigned to him, which is to cover Max. After the win in Monaco, he arrived in Baku and showed the best pace in the first two practice sessions, and in all three free practice sessions he was ahead of his partner. He then finished second in qualifying, losing only to Charles, and took the lead from the start – suggesting Sergio has complete confidence in the car and its abilities.

I think Max has to thank Sergio for his win, who not only took over the team’s tactics, but also lost 5 seconds in the pit stop at the key moment of the race. Of course the Red Bull Racing team helps that they have two such fast racers who know how to win, while Carlos Sainz at Ferrari has perpetual problems, and not just because of bad luck: he can’t match his partner in pace.

Everyone in Formula 1 knows that to win races you need a combination of speed, reliability and stability, but this is very difficult to achieve.

Ferrari has the speed but lacks the other two, while the Red Bull team shows strength in every way. She also had reliability issues at the start of the season, but those were resolved. Ferrari must do the same, and fast!