Azerbaijan – Race: The Tide Turns for Hamilton!
Lewis Hamilton claims a race marked by multiple twists and turns. The Mercedes driver reclaimed the lead three laps from the end, after Valtteri Bottas suffered a puncture following his own benefit from the safety car intervention, due to an impressive collision between the two Red Bull drivers.
The menu for this fourth race of the season looked promising. Lewis Hamilton thus claimed victory in tricky conditions. After a difficult start to the season, the Mercedes driver secured his first victory of the season. He also took the opportunity to lead the championship, four points ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
On this urban circuit swept by wind gusts approaching 80 km/h, the drivers experienced scares from the grid formation lap. After a cautious formation lap, the start was given under the impetus of Sebastian Vettel, poleman for the third time of the season. Only Kimi Räikkönen started on the soft compound, unlike the other favorites on ultra-soft tires.
Two collisions in a row!
Everything went wild from the second corner! After a good start, Esteban Ocon attempted to overtake Kimi Räikkönen. On the outside, the Frenchman, who started seventh, tried to close the door on the Finnish driver. But the 2007 world champion resisted on the inside. Too assertive, the two involved drivers collided. Esteban Ocon ended his race in the wall, forced to retire. The Scuderia Ferrari driver managed to get back to the pits and changed his front wing. The Safety Car was deployed to clear the numerous debris.
Behind, the chaos was widespread. Squeezed by Hülkenberg, Sergey Sirotkin also got tangled up with Sainz and Alonso. Unlike the Williams driver, the bull from Asturias remained in the race, but with a double puncture on the front and rear right tires! The McLaren driver did not mince his words to his radio engineer, denouncing the “stupidity” of this start to the race. On his side, his engineer informed him that his McLaren had suffered significant damage to the flat floor, despite his pit stop.
Alonso llega a rastras a boxes 😱 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/kHJNvBUjtr
— 🇦🇷VictorF1 (@g3of1) 29 avril /f1/actualite/22649-azerbaidjan-qualifications-hat-trick-pour-vettel-.html
GAINS AND LOSSES (LAP 28/51)
Grosjean started P20… now he’s chasing Perez for P7 👏👏👏#AzerbaijanGP 🏁🏴 #F1 pic.twitter.com/goMZKbZc6R
— Formula 1 (@F1) 29 avril
Seven drivers then returned to the pits to change tires: Räikkönen, Hartley, Grosjean, Pérez, Magnussen, Alonso, and Ericsson. Still led by Vettel, the race resumed on the sixth lap. The leader took advantage of the restart line change to delay as much as possible. He maintained the lead. Behind him, Sainz and Hülkenberg moved up to fourth and fifth place, both overtaking Ricciardo and Verstappen. The joy was short-lived for the German from Renault, who hit the wall on the 11th lap: the puncture was immediate. After five consecutive races in the points, Hülkenberg did not see the finish of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, just like in 2017. The race remained chaotic in the following lap: in fifth and sixth, Verstappen and Ricciardo traded blows and collided in the first corner. All this chaos did not affect Vettel, who was 4.5 seconds ahead of Hamilton on the fifteenth lap.
The Red Bulls make the action and go outside!
A lull broke out in the course of the race. Vettel and Hamilton were battling from a distance, through exchanged lap times. The Brit made a small mistake by going through the asphalt runoff at the first corner; he lost precious seconds before his first pit stop, carried out on the 23rd lap. He then opted for soft tires. Unable to properly heat his tires, his out lap was completed with Max Verstappen just behind him. The Dutchman lost time behind the Mercedes and saw Daniel Ricciardo closing in on him. Car #33 stayed ahead of car #3 for a while.
A few minutes later, Vettel dived into the pits. The Ferrari driver swapped his ultra-softs for softs, with 21 laps remaining. He returned to the track eight seconds ahead of Hamilton. Still not having stopped, Valtteri Bottas moved to the front of the race. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo had overtaken Max Verstappen on the 35th lap, in the first corner. But the Australian dove into the pit lane on the 38th lap, daring to gamble on a final stint on ultra-softs. A tactic imitated by Verstappen the following lap.
Excited by the loss of his position, Daniel Ricciardo quickly went on the offensive against his teammate. An explosive cocktail fatal to Red Bull’s ambitions. The Australian tried to slip through a tiny gap on the left of the track, right on the straight. But Verstappen closed the door, determined. The two drivers collided in the middle of the straight and ended their wild race in the runoff area of the first corner. The Red Bull team was left standing in shock after another misjudgment from Verstappen, who was definitively too hot-headed this season.
Hamilton takes advantage of Vettel’s mistake and Bottas’s misfortune!
This major incident caused another appearance of the safety car: Bottas maintained the lead, while changing his tires! The Finn led the pack well, ahead of Vettel and Hamilton. The Safety Car sequence provided an astonishing image. Up to that point in sixth place, Romain Grosjean hit the wall… while warming up his tires. Absolute embarrassment for the Frenchman, who had driven a perfect race until then, which would have given him his first points of the season. The safety car stayed on the track for a few more laps.
The neutralization was prolonged due to the intervention of a tow truck to remove the wreckage of the Haas.
The race restarted for four laps as a conclusion. Vettel lost big by attempting an overtaking move right at the restart in the first corner. He dropped from second… to fourth position! One lap later, misfortune hit Bottas, who drove over a piece of carbon on the straight. The result was immediate, a puncture meaning he had to retire!
Against all odds, Hamilton took the lead and victory at the end of a thrilling race. First victory of the season for the reigning world champion, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen… and Sergio Pérez, who returns to the podium in Baku after his performance in 2016. The Mexican even served a five-second penalty during his pit stop, for overtaking Stroll’s Williams under Safety Car conditions. The Force India driver resisted Vettel’s final attacks, who finished fourth.
Behind them, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc take the points for fifth and sixth place. The Monegasque driver led a race full of composure and scores the first points of his Formula 1 career!
RACE CLASSIFICATION (LAP 51/51)
What drama! WHAT A RACE!#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/iXRDA8ZUpS
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29 /f1/actualite/22649-azerbaidjan-qualifications-hat-trick-pour-vettel-.html
The overall standings of the drivers now has a new leader, with Lewis Hamilton at 70 points. That’s 4 more than Sebastian Vettel. Kimi Räikkönen moves up to third position ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Two drivers have still not scored a point in /f1/actualite/22649-azerbaidjan-qualifications-hat-trick-pour-vettel-.html: Sergey Sirotkin and Romain Grosjean. In the constructors’ standings, Ferrari benefits from Bottas’s puncture to take the lead with 114 points. Sauber surpasses Williams, the new last place in the championship.
