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In the 2022 season, the Baku Round opened the second third of the season, with Ferrari narrowly ahead in qualifying and Red Bull slightly faster in the races. The battle was tight and principled. Max Verstappen came to Azerbaijan as leader of the individual classification, nine points ahead of Charles Leclerc.
The Baku weekend schedule has been adjusted due to its overlap with the 24 Hours of Le Mans to allow viewers to see key moments from both events. As a result, the race started three hours earlier than Saturday’s qualifying.
On Friday, Leclerc was in the lead in practice, on Saturday morning Perez was in the lead – just like in Monaco, he was slightly faster than Verstappen at the weekend. In qualifying, Leclerc was fastest in the deciding attempt – taking sixth pole of the season.
There were no fines. Leclerc and Perez started the race from the front row of the grid, Verstappen and Sainz – from the second, Russell and Gasly – from the third.
Pirelli brought the softest compositions to Baku – C3, C4 and C5 as Hard, Medium and Soft. Ricciardo, Ocon, Bottas, Stroll and Schumacher chose Hard for the first stint, the rest started on Medium.
At the start, Pérez passed Leclerc, who blocked the rubber on the brakes, to lead the race. Vettel passed Tsunoda and moved up to eighth. Magnussen missed Elbon and Stroll.
Top ten in round 2: Perez – Leclerc – Verstappen – Sainz – Russell – Gasley – Hamilton – Vettel – Tsunoda – Alonso.
On lap 3, Magnussen overtook Stroll and Bottas.
The stewards penalized Latifi with a 10-second Stop&Go – he erroneously took position at the start with the help of mechanics and served the penalty in the 4th round.
On lap 6, Magnussen overtook Elbon for 15th.
On lap 9, Sainz stopped in the safety zone of Turn 4 due to gearbox problems and pulled out. To evacuate the car, a virtual safety car mode was announced.
Leclerc, Russell, Gasley, Hamilton, Vettel, Tsunoda, Zhou, Magnussen and Albon entered the pits and switched to Hard. When servicing Leclerc’s car, there was a tow bar with a jack.
Top ten in round 10: Perez – Verstappen – Leclerc – Russell – Alonso – Norris – Riccardo – Gasly – Windows – Vettel.
On lap 13 Vettel attacked Ocon and took the lead but went off track on braking. The car reversed, but it kept moving and lost three positions.
On lap 14, Bottas overtook Zhou for 13th.
On lap 15, Verstappen overtook Pérez for the race lead – Sergio was asked not to resist. Magnussen overtook Stroll for 15th place.
On lap 16, Zhou Bottas came in front to regain his position.
On lap 17 Perez switched tires – there was a breakdown, he was right in front of Russell and stayed ahead.
On lap 18 Hamilton overtook Okon for ninth.
On lap 18 Latifi and Verstappen made a pit stop, Max returned to the track in second. On lap 19, Alonso switched tires.
On lap 20, Alonso overtook Stroll for 15th.
On lap 20, Leclair’s engine exploded in the car leading the race – he stopped in the safety zone and dropped out of the fight.
On lap 21 Norris made a pit stop.
On lap 22, Gasly was ahead of Ricciardo and Tsunoda ahead of Okon.
On lap 24, Zhou stopped the car in the pits on the engineer’s orders and pulled out. Schumacher made a pit stop.
On lap 25, Vettel overtook the unpitched Okon on his third attempt for eighth.
On lap 26, Alonso was ahead of Magnussen and Hamilton was ahead of Riccardo, who hadn’t been in the pits. On lap 27, Alonso overtook Okon and Norris overtook Elbon.
Top ten in round 28: Verstappen – Perez – Russell – Gasley – Hamilton – Ricciardo – Tsunoda – Vettel – Alonso – Ocon.
In lap 30 Albon switched tires, in lap 32 Norris Bottas was ahead. Changed walking tires.
On lap 33, Magnussen’s car blew a cloud of smoke and came to a stop on the track – the fourth outing of Ferrari-powered cars. The virtual safety car mode has been announced. Magnussen’s car rolled towards the track, Kevin stopped it with his hands and called for help from the marshals.
Verstappen and Perez drove into the pits and changed tires – Sergio had a problem installing the left rear wheel. Russell, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Ocon and Bottas also made a pit stop.
Top ten in round 35: Verstappen – Perez – Russell – Gasly – Tsunoda – Hamilton – Vettel – Alonso – Riccardo – Norris.
On lap 36, the riders were able to continue the battle. Hamilton beat Tsunoda for fifth place.
On Tsunoda’s car, DRS failed – only half of the controlled element was lowered – on lap 39, he turned into the pits, where the wing was wrapped with tape, prohibiting the activation of DRS.
On lap 41, Verstappen was told not to use a DRS, but he led the race.
On lap 44 Hamilton overtook Gasly for fourth.
The stewards gave Latifi a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags.
McLaren asked Ricciardo to overtake Alonso, and if he couldn’t, he let Norris through to try and get ahead of the Spaniard, but this plan could not be realized before the finish.
On lap 48, Stroll stopped in the pits on the orders of the engineer – vibrations set in – and withdrew from the race.
Top ten in round 49: Verstappen – Perez – Russell – Hamilton – Gasley – Vettel – Alonso – Riccardo – Norris – Windows.
On the last lap, Verstappen tried to set the best lap of the race, but lost four thousandths of the time to Perez.
Max Verstappen won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with his fifth win of the season and 25th of his career. Sergio Pérez finished second, ahead of Leclerc in the drivers’ standings – Red Bull Racing’s third double win this year – and 20th in history.
Hamilton finished the race fourth, but from a distance complained of severe back pain from the build-up of the car and struggled to get out of the cockpit after the finish.
By finishing fifth and sixth, Gasly and Vettel achieved their best result of the season.
Next week the battle continues in Montreal.
Race results
| pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Piet |
| 1. Mr Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:34:05.941 | 195.144 | 2 |
| 2. C.Perez | Red Bull | +20.823 | 194,427 | 2 |
| 3. D. Russell | Mercedes | +45.995 | 193.567 | 2 |
| 4. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +71,679 | 192,698 | 2 |
| 5. P. Gasly | AlphaTauri | +77,299 | 192.509 | a |
| 6. S. Vettel | Aston Martin | +84.099 | 192.280 | a |
| 7. F. Alonso | alpine | +88.596 | 192.129 | a |
| 8. D. Riccardo | McLaren | +92.207 | 192.009 | a |
| 9. L. Norris | McLaren | +92.556 | 191.997 | a |
| 10. E. Okon | alpine | +108.184 | 191.475 | a |
| 11. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +1 circle | 191.127 | a |
| 12. A. Albon | Williams | +1 circle | 191.073 | 2 |
| 13. Y. Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +1 circle | 191.017 | 2 |
| 14. M. Schumacher | hare | +1 circle | 189,723 | 2 |
| 15. N. Latifi * | Williams | +1 circle | 187,807 | 2 |
| 16. L. Walk | Aston Martin | meeting | 189.002 | 2 |
* added five seconds to Latifi’s score for ignoring blue flags
best lap: Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) – 1:46.046 (lap 36)
Reasons for leaving
| pilot | Team | circles | Cause |
| C. Sainz | Ferrari | eight | hydraulics |
| Sh.Lecler | Ferrari | 21 | Power Point |
| G.Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 23 | mechanical problems |
| K.Magnussen | Hare F1 | 31 | Power Point |
Championship position : Individual
Championship position : Constructors’ Championship
| Team | engine | Glasses | |
| † | 1 Red Bull Racing | Red Bull powertrains | 279 |
| † | 2 Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 199 |
| † | 3. Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team | Mercedes | 161 |
| † | 4 McLaren Racing | Mercedes | 65 |
 |
5 Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 47 |
 |
6. Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN | Ferrari | 41 |
| † | 7 Scuderia Alpha Tauri | Red Bull powertrains | 27 |
| † | 8 Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | fifteen |
| † | 9. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | Mercedes | fifteen |
| † | 10 Williams Racing | Mercedes | 3 |
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
