Charles Leclerc started from pole for the fourth time in a row in Baku, kept the lead into the first corner, but was overtaken by Oscar Piastri on lap 20 and the Monegasque could not recover despite all his efforts.
His Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz collided with Sergio Perez on lap 50 in the battle for third place and retired.
Charles Leclerc (2nd): “As soon as we switched to hard tyres I realised straight away that I couldn’t win. The car was quick on the Medium tyres but unfortunately we couldn’t get a good run in the long series of laps in the first and second practice sessions, which meant we chose settings that made it difficult to control the tyres in the first and second race.
Especially on hard tyres it was difficult. I struggled to control the state of the rear tyres, and closer to the finish in the first or second corner I could have ended up in the wall – it was very close anyway.
McLaren and Oscar did a brilliant job and did a better job than us. I’m so sorry for Carlos. I hope everyone is ok, but definitely not the best day for our team.
“I think the McLaren cars are set up for less downforce because they were so quick on the straights. I couldn’t get close enough to Oscar to attack, but the race was effectively lost when I couldn’t hold off his attack at the end of the straight. Sometimes you make mistakes, but I’ll draw conclusions.”
Carlos Sainz (departure): “Honestly, a very unfortunate end to the race. I’m happy that Sergio and I are doing well.
I had a good race, I was fast, I was in the running for the podium and was the fastest in the last twenty laps. Unfortunately, after I overtook Sergio in the first corner and fought with Charles in the second, there was a very unexpected contact on the exit of the corner. I still don’t understand how it happened.
I didn’t make any unexpected manoeuvres, I didn’t act aggressively towards Sergio, but what happened happened. I still don’t understand how it happened that we collided. And that was the end of the race.
I don’t know what the stewards will say, but I am 100% sure I did nothing wrong. I did not act aggressively.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
