Baku – Race 1: Charles Leclerc back on track in Baku
Charles Leclerc turned yesterday's pole position into victory. He was ahead of Nyck de Vries and Nicholas Latifi. The Monegasque also extended his lead in the championship.
The preparation for this weekend in Baku was far from ideal for Charles Leclerc, who had the pain of losing his father just a few days before flying to Azerbaijan. But the young prodigy managed to convert this pain into additional strength and once again showcased the full extent of his talent during the first race.
Part of the work had already been done yesterday when the Prema driver managed to set the fastest time in the qualifying session, more than half a second ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita. He had no trouble defending his position at the first corner, unlike the Japanese ART Grand Prix driver, who was overtaken by Nicholas Latifi, Nyck de Vries, and Antonio Fuoco.
But the safety car didn’t take long to appear as Johnny Cecotto found his way into the barriers by the second turn, having already had to start from the pits due to stalling on the pre-grid. But when leaving the pit lane, he was speeding, which resulted in a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow. Since he was already last, he will have to start from the pit lane again.
But Charles Leclerc was far from these concerns and mainly had to be careful not to get overtaken at the green flag, especially since the Baku straight is endless: « The safety cars here are rather bad because the straight is so long. So it was quite difficult to manage the people behind, especially when you are in the lead. »
If the Ferrari protégé was able to maintain his position, Nicholas Latifi had to bow down to Nyck de Vries, who was in form after his victory in the Sprint race in Monaco. Behind them, Antonio Fuoco and Sergio Canamassas engaged in a great battle, but it ended badly on the 7th lap for the Italian, who climbed the rear wheel of the Trident driver and ended his race in the wall.
Oliver Rowland hoped to finish 4th but was penalized ten seconds after the race for not slowing down under yellow flag conditions. He therefore has to settle for seventh place, behind Artem Markelov, Norman Nato, and Jordan King. The reverse grid poleman for tomorrow’s race will be Ralph Boschung, who finished eighth in a race that ended under a red flag due to Sean Gelael’s accident, which forced Sergey Sirotkin to block the track.
